Trump’s support for raising taxes on the rich comes as Republicans craft what he calls a ‘big beautiful bill’ of broader tax and spending cuts.
New poll shows Trump with low approval ratings in first 100 days
Less than half of Americans approve of President Donald Trump in his first 100 days, a new NPR/PBS News/Marist poll show.
- Trump says on social media ‘I’m OK’ if Republicans raise taxes on the wealthy.
- Trump’s comment comes day day he meets with the top House tax-writer, Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo.
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump said he could accept higher taxes on the rich – a reversal from his previous opposition – as his fellow Republicans in Congress grapple with broader tax-cut legislation.
Trump has repeatedly rejected raising taxes on the wealthy as a bad strategy because they would leave the country. He said in a social media post May 9 that “Republicans should probably not do it, but I’m OK if they do!!!”
The vexing tax issue illustrates the difficulty Republicans face in approving an overall taxing and spending package, what Trump calls “a big, beautiful bill,” while facing unified opposition from Democrats.
Trump acknowledges possibility of ‘TINY’ tax hike on rich
“We don’t want to raise taxes on anybody,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told Fox and Friends on May 9. “As the House – and they’re the first movers on this – as they look at how to accomplish the president’s ‘big beautiful bill,’ they’ve got to figure out how to wedge in all the things the president wants to do.”
Trump acknowledged Democrats would attack Republicans for a tax hike, and that raising taxes was blamed for former President George H.W. Bush’s reelection loss in 1992. But Trump contends third-party candidate Ross Perot was what cost Bush the election, not his reversal of his “read my lips” pledge not to raise taxes.
“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.’”
House Republicans grapple with how much to cut taxes overall
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., pledged in April to cut taxes by $1.5 trillion over 10 years. But some Republicans would like $500 billion more in tax cuts and simply extending tax cuts from Trump’s first term would cost another $4.5 trillion during that period.
Trump is scheduled to meet May 9 at the White House with the top tax-writer in the House, Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., who heads the Ways and Means Committee.
The debate over taxes is fraught politically because of the narrow GOP majorities in the House and Senate. Republicans are crafting an overall package of taxes and spending under a parliamentary maneuver known as reconciliation, which would allow the Senate to eventually approve the legislation with a simple majority, rather than needing to overcome a filibuster with a 60-vote majority.