The White House is studying an idea to redistribute billions of dollars in federal tariff revenue paid by China through new tax cuts.
The idea, recently floated by Sen. Rick Scott, R-Florida, would seek to offset the impact of an escalating trade war by returning the tariff proceeds to taxpayers.
“The White House is aware of Scott’s idea for cutting taxes to offset trade war damage” and “Trump is aware of it,” a senior administration official said Thursday.
The remarks come as the White House reviews various options for additional tax breaks. President Trump has expressed interest in a payroll tax cut — before apparently changing his mind — while officials have publicly floated “indexing” capital gains to account for inflation, which would lower taxes on investments.
Like the payroll tax cut proposal, the tariff rebate likely requires legislation, a potential tough sell in the Democrat-controlled House.
The official cautioned, “It’s unclear how it would get through Congress.”
Scott floated the idea in a CNBC appearance this month and promoted it on Twitter, noting that he had discussed it with White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow.
The proposal has not yet been fleshed out and written up as legislation.
A spokeswoman for Scott told the Washington Examiner that “we are still working on specifics” and may have something ready in the “next couple of weeks.”
