Kousholy Ema: President Donald Trump has floated the idea of a $2,000 tariff rebate payment, but he's said it will only be given out to taxpayers earning less than $100,000 per year.
In the Oval Office on Monday, Trump stated, We’ve taken in hundreds of billions of dollars in tariff money. We’re going to be issuing dividends…probably the middle of next year, a little bit later than that, of thousands of dollars for individuals of moderate income, middle income. While there has been no official information about the tariff rebates and eligibility, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News that the proposed stimulus checks would be “for working families, earning “less than, say, $100,000.
If the cutoff threshold to receive the rebate is capped at an annual income of $100,000, then higher-income individuals won’t be able to qualify.
A dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone, Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Nov. 9.
The following day, the president wrote on Truth Social the following: All money left over from the $2000 payments made to low and middle income USA Citizens, from the massive Tariff Income pouring into our Country from foreign countries, which will be substantial, will be used to SUBSTANTIALLY PAY DOWN NATIONAL DEBT.
Am I eligible for Trump's $2,000 stimulus check?
According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, as reported by IBISWorld, in 2025, an estimated 42% of households earned more than $100,000. This means that 42% of families earning more than $100,000 would not qualify for Trump’s tariff rebate payments based on the eligibility estimates the administration has revealed so far.
It is unclear whether only families and households will be eligible for the $2,000 payment. However, if individuals are eligible for the payment, then 18% of U.S. adults would fall into this high-income tax bracket, according to recent data from YouGov Profiles.
Since 2020, the share of U.S. households earning more than $100,000 has increased by 1.9 percentage points, and it is expected to continue rising, according to recent data. This threshold cap would leave a significant portion of U.S. households out of receiving the stimulus check.
The U.S. Census Bureau reported that the median family household income in 2024 was $108,600, which represents a narrow margin of ineligible households with families. The overall 2024 median income for all households was $83,730.
How would Trump’s tariff rebate work?
Tax experts from the Tax Foundation flag that this tariff rebate payment plan would incur even more debt for the U.S. if the checks are only dispersed to taxpayers earning less than $100,000.
According to their estimates, it would cost $279.8 billion to send these payments only to tax filers and spouses. The cost increases if you add on dependents and non-filers.
Through September of this year, the president’s new tariffs have only generated an estimated $117 billion, which would not come close to covering the rebates.
“Under nearly any design option, sending out $2,000 payments to Americans would increase, not decrease, the federal budget deficit,” the Tax Foundation experts stated in the report. ‘A better way to provide relief from the burden of tariffs would be to eliminate the tariffs.’
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