Commerce secretary says Trump $5,000 dividend would not be funded by taxes

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told NBC News that the $5,000 payment to every U.S. adult that President Donald Trump has promoted would not be drawn from tax revenues. He said the administration could "earn the money that Donald Trump wants to pay out, not from the deficit and not from taxpayers."

Trump, speaking at a Republican midterm rally in Dallas, described the payment as a "Trump dividend" and suggested it could be financed in part by tariff revenues. The proposal, which could cost up to $1 trillion if applied to all adults, has drawn criticism amid a national debt that recently exceeded $40 trillion.

Lutnick indicated that a planned Commerce Department program to charge wealthy visitors up to $5 million for extended visas could generate about $500 billion, citing a waitlist of more than 100,000 applicants. He also referenced the $8.9 billion federal investment in Intel, whose market value has risen significantly since the purchase.

Other administration officials have floated additional financing ideas. National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett said the White House is exploring a congressional reconciliation process to fund the payments and described the approach as fiscally responsible. Senator JD Vance has also suggested tariff receipts could cover the cost, noting that the payments would be targeted away from high-income households.

Legal constraints exist, however; the Supreme Court has ruled that revenue from certain import tariffs must be returned to the Treasury, and a previous proposal to return $2,000 per taxpayer from tariff receipts exceeded the actual revenue collected, according to the Tax Foundation.