Former President Donald Trump on Friday said that if he wins the November presidential election, he will allow the cost of home generators purchased in states hit impacted by recent storms to be tax deductible.
Hurricane Helene left a trail of destruction when it ripped through the southeast late last month, including more than 200 deaths in an area stretching from Florida to North Carolina. The situation was compounded earlier this week in Florida, when Hurricane Milton struck the Sunshine State, inflicting further damage and additional deaths.
Trump, who has been accused by Democrats of politicizing the devastating storms to help in his quest to defeat Vice President Kamala Harris, suggested in a post to Truth Social on Friday that Americans “deserve” a tax break for generators due to a “poor response” to “unusual” extreme weather by Harris and President Joe Biden.
“North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee and, always, Louisiana, Texas, and other States: Due to the unusual activity of Storms, Hurricanes, and Tornadoes, and other Natural Disasters, especially in well-reported parts of our Country, when I win the Presidential Election of 2024, on November 5th, the Most Important Day in the History of our Country, we are going to allow you, retroactive to September 1st, 2024, to purchase a Generator for your Home, which will, in so doing, entitle you to fully deduct the TOTAL cost of said Generator for Income Tax Purposes,” Trump wrote.
“With what our Country is going through, and with the poor response you’re getting from the White House and the Federal Government, including Lyin’ Kamala Harris and Crooked Joe Biden, this is something you fully deserve,” he continued. “This Tax Deduction is available until August 31st, 2025.”
Former President Donald Trump is pictured during a campaign event in Reading, Pennsylvania on October 9, 2024. Trump said on Friday that generators would be made tax deductible if he is elected in November due to recent extreme weather.
Chip Somodevilla
Additional details about the deduction—including whether there would be a limit to the cost of the generators, or if the benefit would be available to those who do not itemize tax deductions and instead utilize a standard deduction—were unclear at the time of publication.
Millions in the paths of both hurricanes were left without power, with more than 2 million households in Florida still without power due to Milton as of Friday. Three weeks after Helene, around 50,000 people are still without power in the Carolinas.
Newsweek reached out for comment to the Trump and Harris campaigns via email on Friday.
Trump has repeatedly made false claims about the Biden administration’s response to Helene, including evidence-free claims that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) diverted disaster relief money to illegal migrants, that Biden refused to speak to Republican governors and that “Republican areas” were denied aid.
The former president has been contradicted by Republican governors and other lawmakers in the areas affected by the hurricane who said that the federal government instead responded to the crisis quickly, with the president himself having called the GOP governors to personally offer additional support.
Former President Barack Obama slammed Trump for his hurricane rhetoric during a rally for the Harris campaign in Pittsburgh on Thursday night, accusing his successor of attempting to “score political points” by lying to “desperate and vulnerable” people.
“We had one of the deadliest hurricanes in American history,” Obama said. “Hundreds of people killed. And President Biden and Vice President Harris were down there meeting local officials, asking people how they could help.”
“Donald Trump, at a rally, just started making up stories about the Biden administration withholding aid to Republican areas and siphoning off aid to give to undocumented immigrants,” he added. “Everybody knew it wasn’t true. Even local Republicans said it was not true.”
Obama also suggested that Trump would make similar claims about Milton, predicting that there would be “leaders who try to help” but the former president would instead “just lie about it to score political points.”
“The idea of intentionally trying to deceive people in their most desperate and vulnerable moments … When did that become OK?” he said. “Why would we go along with that?”
Update 10/11/24 4:06 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
