Nix the tariff ‘dividend’ checks, shrink the deficit instead

As if President Joe Biden’s COVID “stimulus” checks weren’t bad enough, his successor is floating the idea of “tariff rebates” — when Uncle Sam is already $37 trillion in the hole.

President Donald Trump, whose 2020 checks at least had the justification of keeping the economy going despite the lockdowns, last week said he’s considering $2,000 tariff “dividend” checks for every American family, since tariff revenues “are going to be over a trillion dollars a year.”

At least he also said that paying down the national debt is the “No. 1” priority.

In some very different world, “tariff rebates” might make some sense, but the recent precedents already have the nation started down the road of every new prez sending out “free money” checks: That’s a habit Washington must break.

We’d let the president’s latest musing pass, except he’s said it before, after the Treasury took in $64 billion in tariff revenue during the first three months since Liberation Day.

And that followed talk of a DOGE dividend, which happily has since died out.

But cynical politicians across America have seized on the gimmick; here in New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul is now sending out $400 checks on the theory it’ll help her win re-election next year — even as the state is staring at multibillion-dollar budget holes starting next year.

Bribing the voters with their own money is an insult, of course — and bribing some of them at the expense of other taxpayers is a recipe for ruin.

In DC or Albany, any and all “found money” should go to paying down debts run up in spending sprees of the last five years — or to cutting the tax rates that are still too high.

Trump’s already addressing the “affordability” crisis with pro-growth policies to let Americans earn more, and to lower their energy bills; keep that up, sir, and move us toward a future where every fewer people need government checks to get by.