President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the wealthiest Americans will not receive a tax cut as part of his reform proposal, and could even see their tax rates increase.
“The rich will not be gaining at all with this plan,” he told reporters during a meeting with Republican and Democratic lawmakers to discuss the issue. “We are looking for the middle class and we are looking for jobs — jobs being the economy.”
“I think the wealthy will be pretty much where they are,” he continued. “If they have to go higher, they’ll go higher.”
In a call with reporters later in the afternoon, Trump’s legislative director, Marc Short, said that Trump did not mean that tax rates would go up for the rich. Instead, according to Roll Call, he meant that while rates might go down, some deductions would be eliminated that upper-income Americans take care of, so some of them might conceivably pay more in taxes.
But the details of Trump’s tax reform plan remain scant, although he is pressuring Congress to pass legislation.”With Irma and Harvey devastation, Tax Cuts and Tax Reform is needed more than ever before. Go Congress, go!” He tweeted Wednesday morning.
Over the past two days, the President has been hosting bipartisan events at the White House with members of Congress on tax reform. He met with a group of Senators Tuesday night, including West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, for a dinner that included a discussion on middle class tax cuts and which the White House described as “highly productive.” On Wednesday Trump hosted 13 Congressmen and women — 8 Democrats and 5 Republicans — for additional talks.
“Whether we can do the incredible things that we are doing by working in a bipartisan fashion, obviously would be positive,” he said.
