Trump Endorses Raising Taxes On Rich
By: Sara Dorn (Forbes)
No this is not from The Onion or the Babylon Bee. As far as I can tell it is not satire nor has hell frozen over. What are we to make of this?
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
BySara Dorn,
Forbes Staff.
Sara Dorn is a Forbes news reporter who covers politics.Follow AuthorMay 09, 2025, 10:46am EDTSaveComment
Topline
President Donald Trump said he supports raising taxes on the wealthy to pay for other cuts in his signature economic package, as congressional Republicans have struggled to find ways to offset the spending reductions without slashing entitlement programs.
President Donald Trump makes a trade announcement in the Oval Office of the White House in ... More Washington, DC, on May 8, 2025. (Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)
Key Facts
Trump said Republicans "should probably not" increase taxes on the rich, but he's "OK if they do" in a Friday Truth Social post, expressing concerns that Democrats could claim the move amounts to a broken promise.
Trump said he and other wealthy people "would graciously accept" a tax increase "in order to help the lower and middle income workers."
The president made the statement a day after reports he pushed for the tax increase in a phone call Wednesday with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.
Trump suggested to Johnson taxing individuals making more than $2.5 million per year and couples earning above $5 million at a rate of 39.6%, multipleoutlets reported, citing unnamed sources familiar with the discussion.
In the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, Trump set a 37% tax rate for top earners making above $626,350.
Tangent
Trump said in the Friday Truth Social post he worried that raising taxes on the wealthy could lead to political backlash akin to that surrounding former President George Bush's famed "read my lips: no new taxes" quote. Bush's 1990 budget included some gimmicks, including new fees and levies, that weren't exactly defined as taxes, to pay for cuts, leading to claims he broke the "no new taxes" promise made during his campaign.
Big Number
$67.3 billion. That's how much the new tax on top earners could raise over the next 10 years, according to a preliminary estimate from the nonpartisan Tax Foundation cited by Bloomberg.
Key Background
The 37% tax rate on top earners is set to expire at the end of the year if Congress does not renew Trump's 2017 cuts. At the same time, Republicans will likely be forced to make some cuts to Medicaid under the Republican budget plan passed in February. Doing so without reducing taxes on the wealthy could create an optics issue for Republicans as Medicare and Medicaid are widely popular among voters in both parties. Trump's economic plan calls for a total of $4.5 trillion in tax cuts over the next decade and directs the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees Medicaid, to find $880 billion in cuts. Some Republicans have openly acknowledged it's virtually impossible to make those reductions without touching Medicaid—a program Trump has repeatedly promised will be fully reserved.
Y'all be cool now, ya hear!
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A departure from Trump's previous way of thinking? Or simply a departure from what the Democrats/media have been saying he was thinking?
Have you ever realized that there are many instances where Trump wants to have it both ways? Congress is not going to vote for raising taxes on the rich, so Trump can propose it without any fear of it coming true.
Maybe.... we'll see.
Hell may not have frozen over but the demons are knitting sweaters
Now, the MAGA people are going to pretend they wanted higher taxes on the wealthy all along.
Perhaps. How the other side of the aisle reacts to this will be interesting too. There are some pretty wealthy folks in both camps.
I don't know if this will happen or not, I'm afraid this is just more politics as usual. As the majority of the country does like the idea of the rich paying more in taxes (despite the fact they already pay the majority of income tax paid) so it isn't that far of a stretch to see politicians mentioning this in a nod to the mid-term elections. It's the same reason why some Republicans from blue states are talking about increasing the SALT tax deduction. Party politics to get more of "their side" elected & re-elected.
I don't know for sure but I don't think any tax increase for the rich is in the bill being put together by the House.