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Former President Donald Trump has signaled openness to raising taxes on America’s wealthiest earners. This stance adds new complexity to ongoing Republican efforts to extend the 2017 tax cuts before they expire later this year.
In a post on his social media platform Friday, Trump wrote: “Republicans should probably not do it, but I’m OK if they do!!!” The statement followed reports that Trump privately encouraged House Speaker Mike Johnson to raise the top tax rate.
Sources told Reuters that Trump had floated the idea of increasing the top individual tax rate from 37% to 39.6% for individuals earning over $2.5 million or $5 million for joint filers with exemptions for small businesses.
The comment contrasts traditional Republican orthodoxy amid internal party debates on tax policy. GOP leaders in Congress have resisted tax increases on the wealthy, even as they prepare a sweeping summer budget bill to extend key provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.
Trump cautioned about the political fallout from such a move, pointing to former President George H.W. Bush’s infamous “no new taxes” pledge, which haunted his failed 1992 re-election campaign. “Democrats would seize on even a ‘TINY’ tax increase for the ‘RICH,’” Trump warned.
Despite these warnings, Trump’s openness marks a shift that could appeal to his populist base; many support reducing wealth inequality and view the ultra-rich with growing skepticism. Still, whether the Republican-led House will include such a proposal in its final tax legislation remains unclear.
The 2017 tax cuts, considered Trump’s signature economic achievement, are set to expire at the end of the year unless Congress takes action.
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