President Donald Trump told Republican senators in private last week that he’s open to raising tax rates on some of the highest-earning Americans, according to three people familiar with the meeting.
Trump’s comments came during a sitdown about his agenda with Senate Budget Committee Republicans and Majority Leader John Thune. After Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., asked Trump how he’d view a proposal to let taxes increase on the highest earners, the president replied that he’d be fine with that idea, the three people told Semafor.
Trump’s remarks were not seen by attendees as full-throated support, but his willingness to entertain higher rates for upper-income taxpayers aligns with recent positive signals about the approach from some White House allies. Letting tax rates rise for higher earners could help inoculate Republicans against Democratic charges that Trump’s agenda breaks his promises to working-class voters who backed him in November.
The White House did not respond to inquiries for this story.
GOP lawmakers are pushing to extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts law by the end of the year to prevent increases across a wide swath of income ranges while also making good on some of Trump’s newer tax proposals, including an end to taxes on tips and overtime pay. The 2017 law lowered the top tax rate from 39.6 percent to 37 percent; Republicans could decide to extend all of the tax cuts except for the top bracket or even create another bracket for the highest-income earners.
Party leaders are focused on avoiding any tax increases at all, though they’re also not fully ruling out a change in strategy if Trump wants one. Speaker Mike Johnson said on Tuesday that Republicans are “generally … trying to reduce taxes,” and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said Tuesday that the party wants to “keep rates where they are.”
“Republicans are committed to making sure we prevent a $4 trillion tax increase. That’s our focus,” Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., told Semafor.
