Trump Wants New Tax Bracket for the Wealthiest Americans

President Trump is reportedly pushing Congress to raise taxes on the richest Americans, which Punchbowl News describes as a "seismic shift" that many GOP lawmakers oppose. It's all part of the ongoing negotiations with the sprawling fiscal package now underway. Trump has spoken with House Speaker Mike Johnson about the idea, and the Washington Post reports that a number of options are on the table.

• Trump suggested creating a new tax bracket for individuals making more than $2.5 million a year or couples making more than $5 million, reports the New York Times and the Hill.
• Dovetailing with this is a proposal to let the top rate rise from 37% to 39.6% at the end of the year. Trump signed the lower rate into law in 2017, but this would revert back to the higher Obama-era rate.

• The current top bracket applies to single filers who earn about $626,000 and joint filers who earn about $751,000. Trump "is effectively seeking to restore the previous top rate, but at a much higher income level," per the Times.
• What's very much up in the air is whether Republicans in the House and Senate will back the idea of higher taxes, which the Post describes as a "stark reversal" for the president. GOP Sen. Josh Hawley says he supports the idea but estimated the number of fellow GOP senators in the same camp as "zero, probably."
• Other options are in play, including various loopholes, such as one that lets investment fund managers pay lower taxes.
• On Friday morning, Trump addressed the dicey politics involved. "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," he wrote on Truth Social. "NO, Ross Perot cost him the Election! In any event, Republicans should probably not do it, but I'm OK if they do!!!"

(More President Trump stories.)