This isn’t an authentic post from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent about eliminating the income tax

President Donald Trump recently mused about taxing “foreign nations to enrich our citizens” instead of taxing Americans.

But a purported X post from new Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent about abolishing the federal  income tax isn’t authentic. 

“As Treasury Secretary, I’m committed to eliminating income taxes, replacing them with a fair consumption tax, and adopting a gold-backed currency,” an image of the supposed post said. “We’ll erase debt, restore financial privacy, and unlock new technologies for a prosperous future. The golden age starts now.” 

A Jan. 27 Threads post sharing the image was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

Anthony Burke, a Treasury Department spokesperson, told PolitiFact the X post was not from Bessent.

“I can flatly refute that that is from the current secretary of the treasury,” Burke said.

We found no evidence that Bessent posted this on X, or anywhere. 

The X account handle in the image shared on Threads, @Scott_Bessent, has been suspended for violating the social media platform’s rules, which includes impersonating people “to mislead, confuse or deceive others.”

We looked for but found no instances in which Bessent made the remarks that appear in the X post. 

There are no credible news reports covering such comments, and although Bessent twice mentioned a “golden age” in his confirmation hearing — echoing President Donald Trump’s inaugural address — he didn’t say he was committed to adopting a gold-backed currency or replacing the income tax with a fair consumption tax, which is a tax on goods or services.

We rate claims that Bessent posted about eliminating income taxes False.