Lutnick says Trump’s $5,000 checks for Americans wouldn’t rely on taxpayer funds - NBC News
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick claims that President Trump's proposed $5,000 dividend for Americans will be funded through government investment gains and visa programs rather than taxpayer money. However, experts note that these gains are currently unrealized and other administration officials have suggested alternative funding methods.
Why it matters
The feasibility and funding sources of major economic policy promises are critical for public fiscal transparency.
President Donald Trump’s promised $5,000 “dividend” for all U.S. adults would not be paid for with taxpayer dollars, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Thursday. “It’s not tax money,” Lutnick told NBC News in a wide-ranging interview at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, where he discussed the attacks and a variety of economic issues. He claimed that the administration could “earn the money that Donald Trump wants to pay out, not from the deficit and not from taxpayers.” Trump this week pledged that if Republicans held control of the House and Senate in November’s midterm elections, his administration would issue a “dividend” to all American adults as a reward. “Together we’re going to deliver that plan and we’re going to pay that money to the Americans, and not from taxpayer money,” Lutnick said.
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