President Trump on Wednesday said the tax changes he hopes to push through Congress could end up raising tax bills for the wealthiest Americans, contradicting projections from independent experts and breaking with claims made Tuesday by his own treasury secretary.
“I think the wealthy will be pretty much where they are,” Trump said before a meeting with Democrats at the White House about the tax cut effort. “Pretty much where they are … If they have to go higher, they’ll go higher.”
Trump offered no specifics or evidence for how why the taxes would go up.
Trump’s characterization is a shift from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's statements Tuesday, when the cabinet official said many wealthy Americans would see a tax cut as a result of the plan. The only wealthy Americans who could see their taxes remain flat would be those living in states such as New York and California, Mnuchin said.
The White House and GOP leaders are hoping to slash income tax rates for the wealthiest Americans while curbing some of the tax breaks that these people can claim. Those changes in New York and California, Mnuchin said, should essentially offset each other, leading to no decrease in revenue.