Trump supports higher taxes for the rich, but says that the GOP “should probably not do it” in Bill
President Donald Trump offered mixed messages because the Republicans put the final touch to their tax proposal, claiming on Friday that he would support the increase in the richest American taxes to help pay his radical legislative program while adding in the same breath, his conviction that the Republicans “should probably not do it.”
“The problem with an increase in tax even` tiny ” for the rich, that I and all the others would accept free of charge to help the workers with lower and average income, is that the radical democratic lunatic which was crying, “read my lips”, the legendary quotation of George Bush, the elder who is considered to have cost him the elections. The election! Trump wrote in a job On his social media platform.
President Donald Trump speaks during an event for military mothers, on May 8, 2025, in the east room of the White House in Washington, DC
Jacquelyn Martin / AP
The White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described Trump’s position on the increase in “very honorable” wealthy taxes during the Friday white house press briefing.
“The president himself said that it would not be disturbing to pay a little more to help the poor and the middle class and the working class in this country,” said Leavitt. “These negotiations continue on Capitol Hill and the President will weigh when he feels necessary.”
The White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks with journalists in James Brady’s press design room in the White House, on May 9, 2025, in Washington.
Saul Loeb / AFP via Getty Images
The ambiguous presidential statement has launched negotiators in a frantic race – the Chamber’s track and means committee should mark their legislation next week.
The inclusion of an increase in taxes in the “large and beautiful bill” would be a major reversal for the leaders of the GOP in the Chamber, who argued that allowing the current tax rates to expire would be equivalent to an increase in tax.
“I am not in favor of the increase in tax rates because it is – our party is the group that is opposed, traditionally,” said President Mike Johnson in an interview on Fox News at the end of April.
During his speech of acceptance at the National Republican Convention in 1992, outgoing president George HW Bush pronounced the infamous line, “Read my lips: no new taxes”. The voters finally rejected Bush to the ballot box after having broken his wish and signed legislation designed by the Democrats of the Congress who increased tax revenue to deal with the increasing budget deficit.
