Trump: I’m Willing To Raise Taxes On The Wealthy, “It’s Really A Redistribution”
RCP’s Phil Wegmann asked President Trump on Friday about opposition among Congressional Republicans to raising taxes on the wealthy. “You’re giving up something up top, in order to make people in the middle income and the lower income brackets save more,” Trump explained. “So it’s really a redistribution. And I’m willing to do it if they want.” “I don’t think they’re gonna be doing it,” he added. “But I actually think it’s good politics to do it.”
PHIL WEGMANN, REALCLEARPOLITICS: Specifically on the possibility of an increase in taxes on wealthier Americans, what do you say to conservative Republicans who argue that this is an increase on small business owners? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, what we’re doing is we’re, actually, if we ever did that, it would only be — and from what I hear, rich people would love to do it, I would love to do it, frankly — but what we’ll do is that, you know, they’ll go around saying, oh this is so terrible. What you do is you’re giving up something up top, in order to make people in the middle income and the lower income brackets save more. So it’s really a redistribution. And I’m willing to do it if they want. I would love to be able to give people in a lower bracket a big break by giving up some of what I have. But I’ll tell you, a lot of people say don’t do it because of the fact that you have the Bush statement about “read my lips,” but he lost because of Ross Perot. He didn’t lose because of that statement. … But I don’t think they’re gonna be doing it, but I actually think it’s good politics to do it, where richer people give up — and it’s a very small, it’s like a point. But they give it up to benefit people on lower incomes.
