As he attempts to reclaim his old job, former President Donald Trump teased a new tax plan this week that would see the personal income tax abolished and replaced by an increase in tariffs.

Trump has an interesting history with tax policy. He notably signed a massive tax cut for individuals and corporations in 2017. But tariffs have always been a focus of his policies since his first presidential campaign in 2016. During his term in office, he notably started a trade war with China after placing tariffs on several of the country’s imported goods.

Calling for the abolishment of the income tax is brilliant messaging that will further burnish Trump’s populist credentials while forcing President Joe Biden to play defense on his income tax policy.

While the math of actually replacing the income tax with tariffs would require tariff revenue to increase from $80 billion to $2.2 trillion, the politics of pushing the message is a slam dunk. The government’s taxation policy would shift from taxing income to taxing consumption. And only the consumption of imported foreign goods at that.

This brilliant political strategy would serve a twofold purpose. First, it would bolster incentives for companies to sell goods that are manufactured in the United States, thereby helping grow the U.S. job market. But secondly, removing the income tax would eliminate the part of the federal tax code that the average voter sees and feels most often.

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This is what makes Trump’s tax proposal good politics. It is, on its face, a promise to voters that electing him to the presidency means there will be no more income tax. For most families and individuals, this would mean a net paycheck increase of thousands of dollars. It’s hard to imagine the average voter balking at such a proposal

Regarding the campaign trail, Trump could do a lot worse than a message of no income tax and higher tariffs on foreign imports.