At the heart of this proposal is a familiar political tension: the allure of direct cash benefits versus the hidden costs that may surface later. Tariffs can raise government revenue, but they also tend to push up prices for consumers and disrupt supply chains. Without a clear plan explaining how much would be collected, who exactly would qualify, and how payments would be delivered, the promise remains more aspirational than operational.
For citizens trying to make sense of it, the key questions are practical rather than ideological. How stable would such funding be in a changing global economy? Would the gains from a dividend outweigh the higher prices on everyday goods? And how would this interact with existing tax and benefit systems? Until detailed legislation and independent analyses emerge, the proposal should be viewed as an ambitious signal of priorities rather than a guaranteed, ready-to-implement policy.