Republicans Raising Taxes On Multimillionaires? Despite Trump's Gaslighting, Don't Hold Your Breath

Which do you believe— that Trump wants to raise taxes on the rich or that Trump wants to be seen as someone who made a valiant attempt to raise taxes on the rich while his wildly independent congressional party defied him again and forced him to sign a huge tax decrease— the one he’s been promising for over a year? And that he’s also been learning from Bernie and Elizabeth Warren and wants to close the carried interest loophole? The other possibility is that MAGA Mike told Trump that the increase is inevitable to get his budget passed and he's getting out ahead of the announcement in such a way that allows him to take credit for it. Or... just more Trump psychosis:

Yesterday NBC News reported that on Wednesday Señor T pressed MAGA Mike, his puppet, “to add two additional proposals to the massive package for his agenda: raising the tax rate on the highest earners and closing the so-called carried interest loophole…The 11th-hour requests from Trump add a new wrinkle to an already complicated process for Republican lawmakers as they desperately try to find enough savings for the bill, which seeks to extend the president's 2017 tax cuts, boost funding for immigration enforcement and defense, and raise the debt limit… Trump is considering allowing the rate on individuals making $2.5 million or more annually to revert from 37% to the pre-2017 39.6% [for Americans who are making multiple-millions of dollars annually] as a way to help pay for middle and working class tax cuts and protect Medicaid.”

So… not the 90% marginal rate multimillionaires and billionaires should be paying, but 39.6% is better than 37%, especially with closed loopholes. But since Trump and Musk have fired everyone at the IRS who audited wealthy people, no one will ever know how much better in the real world anyway. This is a different report from the one in April when Señor T “shot down the idea of increasing taxes on millionaires, saying it would be ‘disruptive. You’ll lose a lot of money if you do that,’ Trump said at the time. ‘And other countries that have done it have lost a lot of people. They lose their wealthy people. That would be bad, because the wealthy people pay the tax.’”

But with Trump pushing Johnson to reverse course, and House Republicans struggling to make the math work for their massive bill, leadership is now reconsidering its options.

One senior House Republican closely involved in the negotiations confirmed to NBC News that there has been revived talk inside the House GOP conference over the last 24 hours about potentially allowing the top tax rate to go up, as well as closing the carried interest loophole.

When asked how seriously these new proposals are being taken, the House Republican told NBC News: “At this point we have to find the savings, so I think everything is being taken under consideration.”

The tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee is planning to mark up its portion of the reconciliation bill next week, but is still sorting through a number of thorny issues, such as how to raise the cap on the state and local tax deduction, or SALT. House GOP leaders are aiming to pass the final package on the floor before Memorial Day, which is an ambitious timeline.

Yeah, I’ll believe this when I see it. Republicans don’t raise taxes on the rich; they lower taxes on the rich. Expect this kind of response from Republicans:

What Trump’s performative nonsense is suggesting is a tiny tweak— a meaningless gesture designed to create the illusion of fairness while keeping the billionaire gravy train running on time. Let’s not kid ourselves: Trump doesn’t want to raise taxes on the rich. He wants to look like someone who tried. He’s teeing up the perfect narrative— “I fought for the little guy, but those darn congressional Republicans just wouldn’t let me!” It’s the same con he’s been running for years. Remember when he claimed in 2016 he’d take on Wall Street? Then he stuffed his cabinet with Goldman Sachs execs and rammed through a $1.9 trillion tax giveaway to the ultra-wealthy.

This latest stunt is just more smoke and mirrors. A tiny increase for the top 0.1%— still lower than what they were paying under Obama— is being floated so Trump can justify another massive tax cut that overwhelmingly benefits the rich. It’s a scam. It’s always been a scam. Trump’s not fighting the system— he is the system, wrapped in a gold-plated golf cart, grifting his way through his second term with the same tired lies. This is pure political theater. If Trump really wanted to make the rich pay their fair share, he wouldn’t be tacking on last-minute proposals to a bill that slashes taxes overall. He’d be leading a national conversation about wealth taxes, serious marginal rates, corporate loophole closures and IRS enforcement. Instead, he’s reviving the same old Reaganomics with a MAGA hat on.