‘That’s his goal. That’s what I’m working for,’ Howard Lutnick says.
President Donald Trump is seeking to waive income taxes on individuals earning under $150,000 per year, said U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in two interviews this week.
“I know what [Trump’s] goal is … no tax, for anybody who makes less than $150,000 a year. That’s his goal. That’s what I’m working for,” Lutnick told CBS News in an interview published Wednesday.
A day later, in an interview with Fox News on Thursday, Lutnick was asked by host Martha MacCallum about no income taxes on individuals earning less than $150,000. “It’s aspirational,” he said in response.
In the CBS interview, Lutnick also made mention of Trump’s proposals in 2024 to end taxes on overtime pay, tips, and Social Security payments. Trump has also touted imposing tariffs on other countries’ products, creating an “External Revenue Service” to collect duties, and even went so far as to say that he would try to end all income tax in favor of tariff revenues.
“How about no tax on tips? How about no tax on overtime? How about no social security? How about all those things?” Lutnick said to the outlet.
Since taking office in January, Trump has issued tariffs targeting Canada, Mexico, the European Union, and China, as well as broader duties on aluminum, steel, and other products.
When asked about tariffs in the CBS interview, Lutnick described them as “the most important thing America has ever had” and suggested that they’re “worth it” despite possible economic pain such as a recession.
“The only reason there could possibly be a recession is because the Biden nonsense that we had to live with. These policies produce revenues. They produce growth. They produce factories being built here,” he said.
But when asked about how Trump has imposed the tariffs against Canada, which has drawn retaliatory duties from the U.S. neighbor, Lutnick suggested that it only exists because of the United States.
“You have to remember, Canada exists leaning on our economy,” he told Fox News. “Let’s face it, cars used to be made in America. Why did Michigan’s cars move to Canada to break out of the [United Auto Workers]? That is just unfair to American workers and American union workers.”
He then asked “why we are doing all this business in Canada if they’re not respectful, if they’re not thankful, and they don’t want to do it?”
