Yellen Hits Trump Directly: "To Replace Income Tax with Tariffs, Rates Must Exceed 100%"

"Inflation Rise Slows Down"

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen directly criticized former President Donald Trump's plan to increase tariffs to raise revenue and abolish income tax, saying "tariffs of over 100% would be necessary."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

In an interview with ABC on the 16th (local time), Secretary Yellen responded to a question about Trump's proposal, as the Republican presidential candidate, to replace federal income tax with tariffs, stating, "It would make life unaffordable for American workers and harm U.S. businesses."

Earlier, on the 13th, former President Trump met with Republican lawmakers and presented a plan to increase tariffs to boost revenue instead of lowering or abolishing income tax. Regarding this, the U.S. economic daily The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that to completely replace income tax with tariffs, the tariff rate would need to be raised to over 70%.

Regarding the inflation issue in the U.S., Secretary Yellen said, "It is true that prices have risen significantly over the past three years, but now the rate of increase has slowed to near normal levels," adding, "Wages have also increased during this period, and the average American's situation has improved." She further explained, "The pandemic was a very difficult time, but even before that, many Americans, including a large number of workers, were struggling with costs related to healthcare, energy, education, and childcare."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.