Did newly confirmed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent post on X that he was "committed to eliminating income taxes, replacing them with a fair consumption tax, and adopting a gold-backed currency"? No, that's not true: X has since suspended the account where the post appeared for violation of its rules, which often includes taking down fake accounts. There is no evidence Bessent used those terms in his Senate confirmation hearing two weeks before the post appeared. Lead Stories reviewed a transcript of that hearing, and a search for the terms "income," "consumption" and "gold" did not return any pertinent results.
A screenshot of the claim was shared in a post on Threads (archived here) on January 27, 2025. The original X post opened:
As Treasury Secretary, I'm committed to eliminating income taxes, replacing them with a fair consumption tax, and adopting a gold-backed currency. We'll erase debt, restore financial privacy, and unlock new technologies for a prosperous future. The golden age starts now.
The post on X included digital artwork of the U.S. Capitol with a bright green beam shooting from the dome into the night sky.
The Threads post included this comment:
So which is it? Because Trump just said he's giving massive tax breaks. It's lost on me that Trump Jr just happened to post about the newest Trump gold grift. Also, wtf is alien thing?
Here is what the post looked like at the time of writing:
(Source: Threads screenshot taken on Wed Jan 29 15:17:40 2025 UTC)
The X account for @Scott_Bessent is no longer accessible. Readers who click on the profile are taken to a page that says "Account suspended. X suspends accounts which violate the X Rules (archived here). Those rules include no "Misleading and Deceptive Identities" (archived here).
Here is a screenshot at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Wed Jan 29 15:21:41 2025 UTC)
On January 28, 2025, Bessent was sworn in as Treasury secretary (archived here).
In a review of the transcript (archived here) from Bessent's confirmation hearing on January 16, 2025, Lead Stories searched for the terms "income," consumption," and "gold," and received no pertinent results.
A Google search for the terms Bessent "eliminating income taxes" also returned no relevant results other than stories quoting the debunked X post:
(Source: Google screenshot taken on Wed Jan 29 20:54:03 2025 UTC)
For additional Lead Stories fact checks involving income taxes, click here.
