Visa fees and Intel gains cited as administration funding sources
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told NBC News that President Donald Trump’s proposed $5,000 “Trump dividend” would not be paid from tax revenue. Lutnick’s comments joined those of other administration officials in floating ideas on how the one-time payment to all U.S. adults would be financed.
“It’s not tax money,” Lutnick said, adding that the administration could “earn the money that Donald Trump wants to pay out, not from the deficit and not from taxpayers.”
Lutnick cited a planned Commerce Department program that would charge wealthy visitors to the U.S. up to $5 million to extend their visas. “We have a waitlist of more than 100,000 people who want to come,” he said, calculating that the program could raise $500 billion. The dividend, if paid to all Americans, has been estimated to cost as much as $1 trillion.
Lutnick also pointed to the federal government’s $8.9 billion investment in chipmaker Intel, noting the stake has appreciated in market value from $20 per share to $100.
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told Bloomberg TV that the White House is considering a “reconciliation process” in Congress to fund the program. “We can do it in a fiscally responsible way,” Hassett said. “The bottom line is there are multiple paths to getting it done – don’t underestimate President Trump.”
Vice President JD Vance has suggested tariff revenues would cover the cost and that the payments would not go to wealthy Americans. Trump, too, suggested at his Dallas announcement that tariff revenue could fund part of the payment.
Trump announced the dividend at the Republican midterm convention rally in Dallas on Wednesday, saying he would issue the payments “because of our tremendous strength and success economically.” “If the Republicans win, you win with us, and you get $5,000,” he said. “It will be called the Trump dividend.”
Trump likened the payment to a one-time, tax-free $1,776 “Warrior Dividend” approved for about 1.45 million U.S. military service members last year.
The financing proposals face legal and budgetary constraints. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that revenue raised by Trump’s “liberation day” 2025 import tariffs must be returned. An earlier proposal to return $2,000 to U.S. taxpayers from tariff receipts was more than the revenue that had been raised, according to the nonpartisan Tax Foundation.
The funding question arrives against a backdrop of an Associated Press poll showing 32% approval of Trump’s handling of the economy, down from 40% at the start of his second term.