Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent revealed that the Trump administration has considered limiting the proposed $2,000 tariff dividend to families earning less than six figures.
Well, there are a lot of options on the table; the president is talking about a $2,000 rebate, and that would be for families making less than, say, $100,000.
Scott Bessent, Secretary of the Treasury, on Fox & Friends
Later, Bessent said on ABC’s “This Week” program that the dividend “could take many forms” and that “it could just be the tax cuts that we’re seeing.” This refers to the tax cuts included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which was passed earlier this year.
There have long been concerns about how the proposed $2,000 tariff dividend would operate. Any cash payment of that magnitude to American families would require congressional approval, and some Republicans had previously expressed reservations about the idea.
Tariffs imposed by Trump’s International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) have only raised approximately $90 billion since their implementation through September 23, according to data from US Customs and Border Protection.
In comparison, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimated that a proposal to send $2,000 checks to families during the COVID-19 era would cost $464 billion.
Even if the $2,000 payments were limited to people earning less than $100,000, the Tax Foundation’s vice president of federal tax policy, Erica York, estimates that the cost would be around $300 billion.
To make matters more complicated, there are concerns that if the Supreme Court rules against Trump on IEEPA tariffs, he will be forced to repay money to importers.
According to US Customs and Border Protection data, the government collected $195.9 billion in customs duties during fiscal year 2025, which ended on August 31.
We inherited this affordability disaster. It was the worst inflation in 40 or 50 years.
Scott Bessent, Secretary of the Treasury
How could a stimulus proposal from President Donald Trump be structured?
Bessent acknowledged that no decision had been made on the stimulus proposal. He pointed out that the tariffs’ “dividend” could take the form of tax relief rather than a direct check. This measure excludes citizens with “high incomes,” defined as those earning more than $100,000.
Some economists question whether the federal government’s budget can support the issuance of stimulus checks to Americans. York estimated that the new tariffs will generate nearly $217 billion in revenue by 2026.
However, tax data for 2022 show that if the 123 million households earning less than $100,000 received the proposed stimulus, the cost would be nearly $300 billion.
