It’s extremely likely that you’ve recently heard about Donald Trump’s plan to give away $2,000 checks to almost all American citizens, but do you know if you will be eligible?
The most recent developments suggest that Trump is deadly serious about this plan, and could even be set to give checks to children and dependents, meaning households could see up to $8,000 or more in total from the plan.
What is behind Donald Trump’s $2,000 tariff dividend plan?
Well, Trump has been shouting loudly in recent times about his tariffs on foreign imports, and the amount of money that the US has raised as a result of that policy.
Of course, there is a debate about who actually pays - or has already paid - the money raised by the tariffs, with many outlining that the ongoing affordability crisis is at least partially linked to to this, but Trump is adamant that he is going to give something back to the US taxpayer.
So, how do you find out if you are eligible?
Well, for starters, you have to be an American citizen, that’s a no-brainer.
Beyond that, it will come down to how much you earn.
Trump promised that his stimulus checks will be given to low and moderate earning families, and there will be a cut-off point beyond which families will no longer qualify for the money.
While the details on that aren’t concrete, it looks as if that point might be around the $75,000 mark - or $150,000 as a married couple.
Credit: Leon Neal/Getty
Could payments of up to $8,000 per household be possible?
YouTuber Blind To Billionaire is a bit of an expert on these matters, and he reckons the hard cut-off point for getting the cash will be the $75,000 mark.
In a video explaining the most likely course of action for Trump, he said: “It is based on your income - that’s it. I’ll make it very clear here, is your income below $75,000 a year, as an individual, yes or no? That’s it - that’s all you need to know. If your answer is yes, you are most likely eligible for this.”
Then, in a second video he outlined the idea that even kids and dependents might be in line for the payouts, meaning that a family of four could get as much as $8,000 from the government.
He posited: “President Trump has been doubling and even tripling down on sending out $2,000 rebate stimulus checks to most Americans.
“Once again, this would be $2,000 per person so perhaps maybe $8,000 per household if it is a family of four and he does send these out to children [or] dependents as well.
“He seems very confident about this idea, that he’s going to make this happen.”
It seems as if the idea of families getting individual payouts is gaining some traction too, as non-partisan policy research center The Budget Lab at Yale explained.
In a post about the tariff dividends, it said: “We assume the ‘tariff dividend’ would take the form of a one-time refundable credit of $2,000 per person for tax units with 2025 Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) strictly below $100,000, with no adjustment for filing status and no limit on the number of eligible people in the household.
“Under this interpretation, a married couple with two children and AGI of $95,000 would receive up to $8,000 (four eligible people at $2,000 each).”
However, this reading was slightly different on the cut-off point, which is assumed in their case at $100,000.
Despite this being one of ‘many possible design options’, they stated: “A single filer with AGI of $99,000 would receive $2,000.
“But in both cases, an additional dollar of income that pushes taxable income above the $100,000 cutoff would cause the entire payment to disappear.”
So, there you have it - if you are earning under that amount it is likely you’ll be in line to receive Trump’s proposed money, if it ever materializes at all.
We’ll just have to wait and see.