Trump Wants to Eliminate Taxes for People Earning Under $150K: Commerce Secretary

President Donald Trump's goal is to eliminate taxes for people earning less than $150,000 per year, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has said.

"I know what his goal is — no tax for anybody making under $150,000 a year. That's what I'm working for," Lutnick told CBS News on Wednesday.

He said that major tax cuts could be implemented without causing spiraling national debt through tackling overseas tax fraud.

The proposal to remove taxes for people earning less than $150,000 per year would impact the vast majority of Americans.

In 2022, around 93 percent of Americans aged 15 and over earned less than $150,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The proposal would consequently massively reduce tax revenue generated for the federal government and threaten a huge increase in national debt.

Lutnick said on Wednesday that Trump's aim is to remove taxes for individuals earning less than $150,000 per year. He also outlined the president's other tax strategies, which include abolishing tax on tips, overtime, and Social Security, and implementing significant reductions to individual and corporate taxes.

Lutnick said that the federal government would counteract massive U.S. tax cuts by implementing tariffs on foreign nations and curbing overseas tax evasion.

He noted that many commercial ships sail under the flags of other nations such as Liberia to avoid U.S. taxation. "All those ships are paying no tax, its a tax scam," he said.

He added that many U.S. companies hold their intellectual property in Ireland because of its favorable tax regime.

"Ireland has a $60 billion surplus... because our companies drop their IP there. They pay Ireland the money — tax scam," he said. "How about we end the tax scams."

Lutnick also touted Trump's proposal to charge $5 million for "Gold Card" visas as a way of raising trillions of dollars per year. Trump said in January that the visas would give Green Card privileges, along with a route to citizenship.

Commenting on Trump's tax proposals, Lutnick said: "The rest of the world leans on our economy, breathes off our economy - not only is our economy $29 trillion, but we consume $20 trillion a year. We are the buyer of everybody's stuff."

He added: "So, we are the buyer of everybody's commodities, products, goods and services. Everything comes from us. Let them pay a membership fee. We all understand that model - let them pay."

Commerce Secretary Lutnick told CBS News on Wednesday: "We're all so used to paying taxes. We're so used to it we have like Stockholm Syndrome - 'Don't stop the external revenue service, God forbid.'"

President Trump proposed doing away with income tax for Americans in January, saying it was "time for the U.S. to return to a system that made us richer and powerful."

"America's gonna be very rich again and its gonna happen very quickly. It's time for the United States to return to the system that made us richer and more powerful than ever before," Trump told the 2025 Republican Issues Conference in Miami on January 27.

"Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich foreign nations we should be tariffing and taxing foreign nations to enrich our citizens. Does that make sense? Right?"

The House of Representatives approved a Republican budget resolution in February that included $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and $2 trillion in spending reductions over the next decade. It will now face a Senate vote.

The package, championed by Speaker Mike Johnson, seeks to extend expiring tax cuts from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.