Tariffs Will ‘Substantially Replace’ Income Taxes, Trump Says

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Gavin Bade WSJ 25-02-2026President Trump said that tariffs will replace much income tax revenue–despite a Supreme Court decision last week invalidating many of his levies. The president said that tariffs will “substantially replace” income taxes, and that new tariffs he put in place after the Supreme Court ruling were imposed under “fully approved and tested” legal authorities and won’t need to be approved by Congress.

Despite Trump’s comments, his new global tariff is based on a legal authority never before used by a president for tariffs and is likely to be challenged in court. And Trump’s tariffs last year, which brought in over $180 billion, didn’t come anywhere near close to closing the nation’s nearly $1.8 trillion deficit. The Congressional Budget Office recently projected massive deficits well into the future–projections that included Trump’s now-endangered tariff revenue.