05/28/2025

GOP Rejects ‘Millionaire Tax’ Pitch

It is advancing breaks for wealthy Americans

House Republicans rejected a push by some allies of President Donald Trump to include tax hikes on the rich in sweeping legislation they passed last week — a decision that could carry repercussions into next year’s elections.

The legislation House Republicans approved last week extends tax cuts Trump signed into law in 2017, cutting rates across income groups, including large benefits for the Americans who pay the highest share of federal income tax — those in the top 5 percent of the income distribution. The measure excluded a “millionaire tax,” and other proposals to raise taxes on top earners pitched by Stephen K. Bannon, the president’s first-term chief strategist, and other allies of the president. The Senate could make further changes, but Republicans in the upper chamber are expected to prove even less likely to back higher taxes on the top income bracket, several analysts said.

The issue may help define the upcoming battle over the GOP’s key legislative achievement ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. While Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) told reporters last week that Trump is still pushing legislation to raise taxes on private-equity groups, the GOP is poised to largely reprise the strategy of its 2017 tax bill, which the party struggled at times to sell to voters the following year. Democrats attacked that legislation as skewed for the rich — and won control of the House in 2018 — but efforts to reorient the GOP around a more populist policy program this year appear to be stalling.

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Washington Post.