- President Donald Trump said in an interview published Friday by Time that he would actually “love” a tax on millionaires. This comes amid strong opposition from much of the GOP and contradicts other public statements he’s made this week about taxing the wealthy.
Being a billionaire himself, it’s no surprise President Donald Trump has been against higher taxes on the wealthy. But in an interview published Friday by Time, Trump appeared to change his tune.
When asked whether he supports the millionaires tax, Trump said he “certainly [doesn’t] mind having a tax increase,” but the only reason he wouldn’t support it is out of fear he’d lose an election.
“I saw Bush where they said, where he said ‘Read my lips’ and he lost an election,” Trump said in the Time interview. “He would have lost it anyway, but he lost an election. He got beat up pretty good.”
President George H.W. Bush actually won the 1988 election after he said “Read my lips: No new taxes” during his campaign. There was subsequently a massive deficit, and he agreed to tax increases, therefore breaking his promise. He lost his reelection bid to President Bill Clinton in 1992.
Meanwhile, Trump’s inner circle as of this week was reportedly weighing whether the White House should support raising taxes on Americans who make more than $1 million per year, which is part of the GOP’s 2025 tax legislation, according to the Washington Post. But Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Wednesday said the complete opposite.
“I think it would be very disruptive, because a lot of the millionaires would leave the country,” Trump told reporters. “The old days, they left states. They go from one state to the other. Now with transportation so quick and so easy, they leave countries.”
But in Trump’s interview with Time, he said he’d be “honored” to pay more taxes, with one caveat.
“But I don’t want to be in a position where we lose an election because I was generous, but me, as a rich person, would not mind paying and you know, we’re talking about very little,” Trump said. “We’re talking about one point. It doesn’t make that much difference, and yet, I could just see somebody trying to bring that up as a subject, and, you know, say, ‘Oh, he raised taxes.’”
Since taxing the rich more is typically associated with the Democratic Party, many of Trump’s allies have openly disagreed with a move by the GOP to tax the rich. Trump advisers including Newt Gingrich, Steve Moore, and Larry Kudlow argue the plan goes against the president’s promise to lower taxes, according to the Washington Post. Johnson and GOP Sens. Dave McCormick and Ted Cruz have also noted their opposition.
The other side of the argument is that raising taxes on the wealthy would help the middle class, who voted for Trump in droves.
“I’d be raising [taxes] on wealthy to take care of middle class,” Trump said. “And that’s—I love that. I actually love the concept, but I don’t want it to be used against me politically, because I’ve seen people lose elections for less, especially with the fake news.”
Raising taxes on the wealthy would also help fulfill Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” to fund the government with trillions of dollars in tax breaks and federal program cuts.
“The current system we have is not sustainable,” former chief strategist for the first Trump administration Steve Bannon said at Semafor’s World Economy Summit on Wednesday. “You have to go to an alternative. I think the alternative is budget cuts. And…it has to be tax increases on the wealthy.”
