Trump revives tax hikes for Americans making "millions"
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
President Trump suggested to Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday that the top tax rate should increase for individuals who are making millions of dollars a year, according to an administration official.
Why it matters: Trump is determined to make the wealthiest Americans pay more in taxes and protect his party from accusations that the MAGA movement is only interested in protecting the mega-rich.
- "This is to pay for working and middle class tax cuts that were promised, and protect Medicaid," an administration official said.
- Democrats are already accusing Republicans of wanting to cut Medicaid, which is polling poison for the party. House Republicans are struggling to find enough Medicaid savings to help offset the tax cuts Trump has promised.
- Trump also told Johnson he wanted to treat carried interest as regular income in their call, according to the official. This would be a blow to the private equity industry.
What they are saying: Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), the chair of the Senate Finance Committee, expressed misgivings about the proposal, but acknowledged that Trump's endorsement could give it momentum.
- "So right now, I'm not excited about the proposal, but I have to say there are a number of people in both the House and Senate who are," Crapo said on the Hugh Hewitt radio show.
- "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."
Zoom in: Punchbowl News was first to report on the Trump-Johnson call, but indicated that Trump told Johnson to raise the top rate, which is currently at 37% for regular income. The 2025 tax year cutoff for the 37% bracket for an individual is $626,350.
- Trump wants the rate to revert back to 39.6% only for Americans who are making multiple-millions of dollars, the official said.
- Tax rates will increase for all Americans next year if Congress doesn't reach an agreement on extending Trump's signature 2017 tax package.
Zoom out: Two weeks ago, Trump poured cold water on the idea of raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans, but White House officials were clearly considering it.
- "I think it would be very disruptive, because a lot of the millionaires would leave the country," Trump said on April 24.
- Johnson struck a similar tone. "I'm not in favor of raising the tax rates because our party is the group that stands against that traditionally," he said on Fox News in April.
Editor's note: This story was been updated to include comments from Sen. Mike Crapo.
