On Wednesday, United States President Donald Trump vowed to permanently remove payroll tax starting in 2021 if he wins the November elections and keeps his position as president of the country.
No more taxes?
According to the New York Post, during his nightly coronavirus briefing at the White House, Trump said that on the assumption he wins the elections, his administration will be working on abolishing payroll tax at the beginning of next year.
However, Congress would have to approve the removal of the tax, which supplies about $100 billion every month and funds Social Security and Medicare.
Over the weekend, Trump signed multiple executive orders in an attempt to support Americans after talks of a coronavirus relief package produced no results. The orders include a four-month payroll tax holiday that would provide more spending money to each earning individual.
The support would be provided to employees who have an annual wage of less than $104,000 this year and could save an individual hundreds of dollars each month depending on their salary.
On Sunday, after making his promise, Trump reassured the nation that his proposal would not hamper Social Security. The US president noted that the order would only postpone payroll tax payments from September to December and not remove them altogether, which suggests they could be taxed in January.
During an interview with Chris Wallace of Fox News over the weekend, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that Trump would move forward with signing legislation that would completely remove taxes, creating a payroll tax cut.
Trump's campaign for this year used the slogan "Promises Kept," amid his prospects of reelection becoming more distant with the coronavirus pandemic creating a deep recession within the nation, as reported by LATimes.
Big promises
The announcement is not one of those promises most presidents make as they look to maintain their position as president for a second term. The proposal has no calculations to support that it is viable, no political teams working on legislative coalitions, and no national security experts making public the potential risks and consequences.
While Trump has successfully kept some of his campaign promises from the 2016 elections including taking actions against both legal and illegal immigration, there is little evidence to support he would be able to succeed where he previously came short.
Within the first year of his presidency, Trump moved to remove Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act but had since failed despite Republicans controlling both houses of Congress.
Afterwards, the US president has continued to deliver on his promise of providing a replacement plan to the act. Up until now, however, he has yet to reveal an alternative, and there is little support for the removal of the healthcare act. It also comes amid the global health crisis that has already taken the lives of more than 164,000 Americans.
In 2018, Trump refused to keep the nuclear accord with Iran, and there have been no known negotiations between the two governments about a replacement. Several permanent members of the United Nations Security Council had expressed their support for Iran during the standoff.
