In recent months, as Donald Trump’s trade tariffs have taken root, the president has occasionally floated the idea of turning tariff revenue into checks his administration would send to the public. Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri has even put together legislation in the hopes of advancing the idea.
As Reuters reported, he hasn’t yet given up on the idea.
The Republican president said his administration was looking at using tariff revenues to issue rebate checks for Americans. ‘We also might make a distribution to the people, almost like a dividend to the people of America,’ Trump told OAN. ‘We’ve thinking maybe $1,000 to $2,000. It’d be great.’
According to the transcript, shortly before saying he is thinking about these “great” rebate checks, he also said in reference to tariffs, “We’ll pay back debt.”
And therein lies a problem. There’s an old accounting maxim, “You can’t spend the same dollar twice,” and the president might want to familiarize himself with the idea.
To be sure, Trump’s tariffs are generating revenue. He’s wildly exaggerated how much revenue, pointing to “trillions” of dollars, despite the reality of far more modest sums, but the money does exist. That’s not too surprising: Tariffs are, for all intents and purposes, taxes — and taxes generate revenue.
The trouble is, the president, who’s long struggled with the basics of accounting, seems to be under the impression that the pool of money is so enormous that he can use it for a wide variety of priorities.
According to Trump, tariff revenue will be used to reduce the national debt. And pay for “dividend” checks. And pay for tax cuts. And even finance a new system of free childcare for American families.
There are very credible concerns about tariffs weakening economic growth in the coming months and years, but even putting those questions aside, there’s a more foundational problem: The White House can’t spend the same dollar several times. Earlier this week, during his radical remarks to U.S. generals and admirals, Trump boasted, “We’ve taken in trillions of dollars. We’re rich again.” If he were right, and the United States had actually taken in trillions of dollars since April, we could have a very different kind of conversation. But in reality, tariff revenue was roughly $30 billion in July. (That’s “billion” with a B, not “trillion” with a T.) In the context of federal expenditures, that’s not even close to being enough money to pay for all of the things the president has talked about. In late July, Trump boasted online, “[O]ur Country is doing very well and can afford just about anything.” It’d be nice if that were true. It’s not.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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