President Donald Trump appeared to backtrack on asking congressional Republicans to raise taxes on Americans earning millions of dollars a year in the “one big, beautiful bill” GOP lawmakers are currently writing.
Trump said Friday morning that Republicans in Congress should “probably not” increase taxes for the highest-earning Americans. However, the president conceded that he would not stand in lawmakers’ way if they incorporated a tax hike for the super-rich in his sweeping tax and spending package.
Trump’s statement comes after he reportedly asked Speaker Mike Johnson Wednesday to let the top marginal income tax rate revert back to roughly 40% for Americans earning more than $2.5 million annually to help pay for his other tax priorities, such as no taxes on tips.
“The problem with even a “TINY” tax increase for the RICH, which I and all others would graciously accept in order to help the lower and middle income workers, is that the Radical Left Democrat Lunatics would go around screaming, ‘Read my lips,’ the fabled Quote by George Bush the Elder that is said to have cost him the Election,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, referencing the 1992 presidential race. “NO, Ross Perot cost him the Election! In any event, Republicans should probably not do it, but I’m OK if they do!!!”
Trump previously suggested in an interview with TIME Magazine that he would support a millionaire tax proposal, but voiced concern about the electoral consequences for Republicans.
“Well, I’ll tell ya, I certainly don’t mind having a tax increase, and the only reason I wouldn’t support it is because I saw Bush where they said, where he said, ‘Read my lips,’ and he lost an election,” Trump told TIME. “He would have lost it anyway, but he lost an election. He got beat up pretty good. I would be honored to pay more, but I don’t want to be in a position where we lose an election because I was generous, but me, as a rich person, would not mind paying and, you know, we’re talking about very little.”
“I’d be raising them on [the] wealthy to take care of middle class,” Trump continued. “And that’s — I love, that. I actually love the concept, but I don’t want it to be used against me politically, because I’ve seen people lose elections for less, especially with the fake news.”
The vast majority of Republican lawmakers, who have signed Americans for Tax Reform’s pledge to “oppose any and all tax increases,” have appeared reluctant to incorporating a tax hike on the highest-earning Americans in Republicans’ budget reconciliation package.
“[Raising taxes on the top level] would be a tax on every small business, every job creator,” Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said Thursday on CNBC. “That’s what Kamala Harris campaigned on. That’s what she promised.”
“Right now, I’m not excited about the proposal,” Senate Finance Committee chairman Mike Crapo told conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt on Thursday. “But I have to say, there are a number of people in both the House and the Senate who are, and if the president weighs in in favor of it, then that’s going to be a big factor that we have to take into consideration as well.”
Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, who frequently breaks with his party on economic issues, told the Daily Caller News Foundation on Thursday afternoon that he would be “fine” with the president’s millionaire tax proposal. He cautioned that at most two of his Senate GOP colleagues would join him in signing off on the tax hike.
“The package overall is going to be a huge tax cut, but we’ve got to focus it on working people,” Hawley said.
Trump’s flirtation with a millionaire tax has also inspired backlash from conservatives who warn about electoral consequences and argue the proposal is a dramatic departure from the traditional Republican philosophy of cutting taxes and opposing tax hikes.
“If the GOP authors marginal tax rate increases on anyone they will get blown out in 2026,” co-host of the “Ruthless” podcast Josh Holmes wrote on X Thursday. “You will have two parties that believe the government is entitled to take at least half of an American’s stuff and repurpose it as they see fit.”
“The GOP is not the party of revenue collectors for the welfare state,” Mike Palicz, the Director of Tax Policy for conservative group Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), wrote on X Thursday. “There’s no Republican in Congress who campaigned on raising taxes. Campaign Trump instinctively knew to trash Kamala’s top rate hike. All Rs have to do is pass what they campaigned on.”
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