Latest news with #wealthytax
CNN
10-05-2025
- Business
- CNN
Trump floats raising taxes on the rich to pay for his sweeping tax and spending cuts package
Source: CNN President Donald Trump said he's open to hiking taxes on wealthy Americans to help pay for Republicans' sweeping tax and spending cuts package, but the idea remains hotly contested among GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill. In a Truth Social post Friday morning, Trump said that he would 'graciously accept' even a 'TINY' tax increase on the rich, while acknowledging that that it could bring political risks for Republicans. House GOP lawmakers have been struggling to find $1.5 trillion in spending cuts to help offset trillions of dollars of tax reductions. '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. NO, Ross Perot cost him the Election!' Trump wrote. 'In any event, Republicans should probably not do it, but I'm OK if they do!!!' he continued. Trump also mentioned the possibility of letting tax cuts expire on top earners – targeting individuals who earn at least $2.5 million or couples that make at least $5 million — in a call with House Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday, a Republican source familiar with the matter told CNN's Dana Bash. The White House has made the suggestion to Congress with the thought that not only would it help achieve much needed offsets, it could also help wipe away Democrats' argument about tax cuts for the rich, the source familiar said. This is not the first time Trump has indicated that he supports raising taxes on the wealthy, even though throughout last year's presidential campaign, he repeatedly promised to cut their taxes. The president recently told Time magazine, 'I actually love the concept,' when asked about a proposal circulating to raise taxes for those earning more than $1 million a year. The idea, however, is not being warmly embraced among the House GOP and is far from guaranteed to make it into the president's final 'one big beautiful' bill, which aims to make permanent the sweeping Trump 2017 tax cuts and incorporate the president's campaign promises to eliminate taxes on tips and certain other income. Just extending the 2017 individual tax provisions – which expire at the end of this year – could cost more than $4 trillion. Republican lawmakers are also fractured on how deeply they'd have to cut spending – including on Medicaid and food stamps – to meet their targets. Within the House Ways and Means Committee, members have discussed two ideas. One is to let the tax breaks for the richest Americans expire, returning their top income tax rate to 39.6% – which is what it was before Trump's 2017 tax overhaul – from the current 37%. This has drawn criticism from some Republicans fear it could impact small business owners. But it could hit roughly 1.5 million households and cut about $409 billion of the cost, as well as greatly limit potential economic growth from making the tax cuts permanent, according to the Tax Foundation, a right-leaning think tank. Another idea is to create a brand-new tax bracket for the wealthy. The proposal, though limited in scope, could contribute to offsetting costly tax provisions, such as restoring the state and local tax deduction – known as SALT – that has become another flashpoint in Congress' tax debate. The new tax bracket would raise about $59.3 billion over a decade, according to the Tax Foundation. And it would affect between 150,000 and 200,000 households and would have a much smaller dampening effect on the package's economic growth potential. Levying a higher income tax rate on the very wealthiest of Americans would raise less money because much of that group's earnings come from dividends and capital gains, which are taxed at lower rates, said Garrett Watson, the foundation's director of policy analysis. Also, there are much fewer of them. One of the considerations for Republicans is what the goal of such a provision would be – to limit how much of the benefit is going to the rich or to raise more money to offset other tax cuts, Watson said. Despite Trump's apparent openness to raising taxes on the wealthy, his economic adviser said Friday that the president 'is not a strong advocate' of the idea. Asked whether Trump is seriously considering taxing the rich to pay for his budget bill, National Economic Director Kevin Hassett said: 'The president is not a strong advocate of that, but he is a strong advocate of many things like no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and nice treatment for auto loans.' 'He has cited his priorities, and he understands that in the end, the final bill will include some priorities of members of the House of the Senate. That's how the democratic process works, and that's really what this conversation is about.' Trump reaffirmed Friday evening, though, that he's open to taxing rich Americans, calling it 'good politics.' A reporter asked Trump in the Oval Office what his message would be to conservative Republicans who warn it's a tax increase on small business owners. Trump cast it as a 'redistribution.' 'People would love to do it — rich people. I would love to do it, frankly,' the president said. When asked how the White House expects to pay for the bill, given a number of its stated priorities are expensive, Hassett argued Congress has already identified clear areas for cuts, without detailing what they are and whether they are achievable. 'Well, the budget rules in the House and the Senate are very clearly identified that include spending cuts and so on, and they don't include dynamic scores,' he told CNN. 'And so in the fullest of time with the spending cuts that we're achieving ,and the dynamic score of the tax bill, we're highly confident that we're going to reduce the deficit that make bond markets celebrate.' Hassett has been meeting almost weekly with Johnson, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and others regarding Congress' budget. Earlier this week, the group met in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. This story has been updated with additional details. See Full Web Article
New York Times
09-05-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Trump Softens on Raising Taxes on the Rich, Saying G.O.P. Probably Shouldn't
President Trump on Friday publicly softened his private push on House Republicans to raise taxes on wealthy people and scrap a tax break that benefits private equity executives as part of a megabill to carry out his agenda. '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,' Mr. Trump wrote on his social media website, Truth Social. 'Republicans should probably not do it, but I'm OK if they do!!!' Mr. Trump on Wednesday had privately urged Speaker Mike Johnson to create a higher tax bracket for those making more than $2.5 million a year. He also said he supported closing what is known as the carried interest loophole, which allows hedge fund, private equity and venture capital executives to pay taxes of only about 20 percent on their profits, which is about half the top income tax rate. The request further complicated Republicans' job as they toil to put together a domestic policy bill they hope to push through Congress this year. Divisions within the party over potential cuts to Medicaid and other popular social programs to pay for it, and which tax reductions to include, have delayed the drafting of the package and threaten to sap support for it. And Mr. Trump's abrupt and sometimes fleeting demands for the bill have hung over the talks, with G.O.P. lawmakers reluctant to cross him but uncertain of where he will ultimately stand. Mr. Trump is not constitutionally eligible to run for another election, unlike President George H.W. Bush, who was famously accused of breaking his campaign pledge not to impose new taxes. But Republicans are already facing blowback over Mr. Trump's first four months in office, well ahead of the midterm congressional elections. And many do not want to take a vote that would be used by Democrats as a weapon against them. Mr. Trump did not entirely walk away from his tax demand in the social media post. But he left himself an out should Republicans balk.
Russia Today
09-05-2025
- Business
- Russia Today
Trump seeks tax hike on the rich
US President Donald Trump has proposed raising tax rates on the country's highest earners, several media outlets have reported, citing sources familiar with the matter. The measure is said to offset the other cuts in Trump's economic package. Lawmakers are currently working to pass a massive legislative package expected to generate $1.5 trillion in savings over the next decade. The bill is aimed at advancing Trump's policies on taxation, defense, energy, immigration, and border security, while also raising the debt ceiling. Last month, the president ruled out a proposal to increase taxes on wealthy Americans, arguing that such a move could prove 'disruptive' and compel millionaires to flee the US. The latest proposal comes amid discussions about limiting the cost of the overall bill, for which lawmakers are trying to find funding – potentially by cutting entitlement programs, including Medicaid health coverage for low-income Americans. The revised proposal reportedly calls for establishing a new 39.6% tax bracket for individuals with annual earnings of at least $2.5 million, or couples making $5 million per year, the New York Times reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with Trump's request to House Speaker Mike Johnson. Bloomberg cited an unnamed source familiar with the matter as saying that the president also reiterated his push to eliminate the carried interest tax break claimed by venture capital and private equity fund managers. Other tax hikes currently under consideration include increasing the tax on stock buybacks and further limiting companies' ability to deduct compensation for highly paid employees, the New York Times noted. If adopted, the proposed hike would roll back a tax cut Trump signed into law during his first presidential term that lowered the top income tax rate from 39.6% to 37%. The rate remains at 37% but currently applies to individuals with annual incomes of $626,350 or more.
Fox News
08-05-2025
- Business
- Fox News
Trump's first vice president urges his old boss against raising taxes on wealthy Americans
Former Vice President Mike Pence has a message for his old boss. Pence is urging President Donald Trump, under whom he served as vice president in Trump's first administration, not to raise the tax rate on wealthy Americans. Trump's 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the signature domestic achievement of his first White House term, is scheduled to expire this year if it's not extended by Congress. The Trump White House and some congressional Republicans for weeks have mulled letting the tax reductions on the wealthy sunset as a way to pay for the rest of the tax cuts as well as Trump's other pricey second-term priorities. And the president, during a Wednesday phone call, pushed House Speaker Mike Johnson to raise taxes on the highest income earners and close the carried interest loophole in the reconciliation process, Fox News Digital confirmed. The development was first reported Thursday by Punchbowl News. A source familiar with Trump's thinking said Trump is considering allowing the rate on individuals making $2.5 million or more to increase by 2.6%, from 37% to 39.6%. But Pence, a fiscal conservative and budget hawk during his long political career in the House of Representatives, as Indiana governor and as vice president, strongly cautioned against upping the rates on the highest earners. "Any suggestion that I've heard among some in and around the administration that we raise the top margin rate, the so-called millionaires tax, would be an enormous tax increase on small business owners across America," Pence said. "It needs to be opposed." And the former vice president, in an interview with Fox News Digital this week, argued that "the majority of people that file taxes of a million dollars are simply individuals that own businesses, and they file their taxes as an individual, but then plow that money back into their company. If you raise that top margin, it would be an enormous tax increase on small business America." "Let's make all the Trump-Pence tax cuts permanent. That's a way to really lay a foundation to grow the economy in the days ahead," Pence urged. Pence, who was interviewed in Boston after receiving the John F. Kennedy Profiles in Courage award, gave "President Trump all the credit in the world for an historic victory last November, and for sparing the country one more liberal Democrat administration." He also praised Trump "not only for his victory, but for securing our southern border, for restoring morale and recruitment in our military, for taking the fight to the Houthis." But he argued that "I truly do believe that some of the other steps the president is taking away from that conservative agenda should be a concern that would work against his legacy and ultimately the success of our party or our country. And so we're going to continue to be a voice against them. "I really do believe that for prosperity … for the success of our country, we need to stick to those time-honored principles of strong defense, American leadership on the world stage, less government, less taxes, traditional moral values and the right to life, and I'm going to be a voice for that," Pence added.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump urged Speaker Johnson to raise top tax rate, source says
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump privately urged House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson during a phone call on Wednesday to raise the top tax rate and close the carried interest loophole in upcoming legislation, a person familiar with the conversation said on Thursday. Trump and Johnson spoke as the Republican-controlled House sought to advance the president's legislative agenda, which would extend his 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act for businesses and individuals, while eliminating taxes on tip income, overtime pay and Social Security benefits. Johnson and other top Republicans have resisted the idea of increasing the tax rate on wealthy Americans up until now. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters last week that Trump had ruled out the idea. But the party has remained under pressure from Trump's populist MAGA supporters to limit tax breaks for wealthy individuals and businesses. Representative Jason Smith, who chairs the tax-writing House Ways & Means Committee, said in a recent interview that his panel could close tax loopholes that benefit the rich.
