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Fox Contributor: Trump’s Plan to Eliminate Income Tax ‘Doesn’t Add Up’

James Freeman questioned President Trump's claim that tariffs could allow the U.S. to 'almost completely' eliminate income taxes, saying 'the math doesn't really work there.' He pointed out that tariffs might yield about $200 billion annually while federal spending is roughly $7 trillion, creating a large shortfall. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said tariff revenue will decline, and the Supreme Court is weighing the program's legality; lower courts have already invalidated parts of it. Freeman argued that abolishing the income tax would require substantial cuts to government programs.

01:25 AM, 11/29/2025Politics
Fox Contributor: Trump’s Plan to Eliminate Income Tax ‘Doesn’t Add Up’

James Freeman, a Fox News contributor and assistant editor of The Wall Street Journal's editorial page, challenged President Donald Trump's recent suggestion that tariff revenue could enable the United States to 'almost completely' eliminate income taxes. Speaking with anchor Alicia Acuna, Freeman said the proposal is spirited but questioned its practical feasibility: 'The math doesn't really work there.'

Trump told reporters that tariffs could allow the government to 'substantially' cut or even 'completely' eliminate income taxes in the coming years. Freeman noted that, even assuming the administration's full tariff program survives legal challenges and generates roughly $200 billion a year, federal spending runs near $7 trillion annually — a gap that makes outright elimination of the income tax unrealistic without major spending reductions.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has previously said the administration's tariffs are not intended to be profit-generating and that revenue from them is expected to decline over time. The tariffs' legality is also unsettled: the Supreme Court recently heard arguments about whether an emergency statute gives the president authority to impose such sweeping tariffs without congressional approval. Several justices questioned the statute's breadth, and lower courts have already struck down portions of the program.

'If you're thinking, "Let's get rid of all income taxes completely," that's kind of a tough program,' Freeman said on air, adding that people can appreciate the ambition behind the idea even as the numbers fall short.

Freeman praised past steps to ease income-tax burdens but warned that abolishing the tax would require far deeper cuts to federal programs. 'The reason progressives created the income tax more than 100 years ago was to pay for all of their government programs,' he said, arguing that serious efforts to shrink government size would be necessary for income-tax repeal to be realistic. He also referenced the president's earlier 'DOGE' effort as an initial move but cautioned there is 'a long way to go.'

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