Could a new tax bracket be coming soon for those earning $1 million or more? Republicans are reportedly mulling the idea of creating a new top tax rate that would be around 39% to 40% as a way to offset some of the costs of their tax package, according to Bloomberg.
The discussions on a millionaire tax hike are a major departure from the GOP norm, as the Republican party has for decades touted being against tax increases.
- Related article: How Much Do the Top 1% Pay in Taxes in Each State?
The April 3 Bloomberg article states:
The possibility of higher taxes — even on the wealthiest Americans — is likely to spark controversy within the Republican party, which has undergone a shift from essentially requiring no-new-tax pledges from their members to embracing more populist ideas under Trump.
Trump’s first-term cuts, dubbed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, faced a backlash for skewing many of the benefits to large corporations and high-earning Americans. This time, administration officials don’t want the tax bill to be perceived as a giveaway to the rich, the people [familiar with the matter] said.
Treasury officials are also urging their allies at the White House and on Capitol Hill to move quickly on a tax package in order to counteract the market turmoil and economic uncertainty spurred by Trump’s wide-ranging tariff policies unveiled on Wednesday, they said.
In an update on April 7, Bloomberg reported that House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, a Republican congressman from Maryland, said in an interview that he views the millionaires’ tax rate as a “reasonable way to pay for” President Donald Trump’s campaign pledge to eliminate taxes on tipped wages.
“You are only raising it a couple of points,” he said, referencing the current top tax rate of 37% for individuals earning more than $626,350 a year.
Bloomberg also reported on Monday that Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) would consider letting the top rate go back to 39.6%—the highest bracket before Trump’s first-term cuts—as long as there were some parameters around it, particularly for owners of privately held companies that pay their business taxes on their household returns.
A recent Pew Research Center poll found that most Americans favor raising taxes on higher-income households. About six in 10 respondents (58%) say tax rates on household income over $400,000 should be raised, including 23% who say these tax rates should be raised a lot.
Republicans are considering a series of new tax cuts, including eliminating taxes on overtime pay and creating new write-offs for older people and car buyers. But fiscal constraints in the legislation mean that lawmakers will have to find either spending reductions or tax increases to offset the cost of their tax priorities.
The House as soon as this week could vote on a budget resolution that unlocks the process for Republicans to pass a tax cut bill on GOP votes alone, according to Bloomberg.
With Tribune News Service
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Tags: Congress, Income Taxes, millionaires, tax brackets, Taxes, Trump tax cuts, wealthy
vikingvista April 9 2025 at 12:28 pm
I recall in the 1980's "Reagan Era", Republican rhetoric, occasionally practice, was pro tax cuts, free markets, free trade, immigration. This was in opposition to Democrats like Joe Biden (Senator at the time) whose rhetoric was anti trade, anti immigrant, anti market, pro tax increases. Today, Trump Republicans are anti trade, anti immigrant, with Trump unilaterally in just a week massively raising Americans taxes (directly levied on American importers), and Republican Senators considering raising top marginal rates. So, does that mean the 1980's Democrats have finally won and taken over the Republican party?