Mike Johnson says he’s ‘working’ to kill ‘idea’ of hiking taxes on rich

House Speaker Mike Johnson said Wednesday he is actively “working against” implementing a tax hike on the wealthy as part of President Donald Trump’s sweeping “big, beautiful” budget bill.

Republicans in Congress are considering the tax increases — a sharp break from traditional GOP orthodoxy — though they reportedly say that the hikes may not make it into the final bill. Johnson, on “The Will Cain Show,” downplayed the likelihood of such increases ultimately making the cut.

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“I would not expect that. We have been working against that idea,” Johnson said. “I’m not in favor of raising the tax rates because that’s — our party is the group that stands against that traditionally. So there are lots of ideas thrown out on the table, along this process over the last year.”

“But I would just say for everybody, just wait and see. There’s more details coming, and I think you’re going to be very pleased by what you see,” he added. “I don’t think we’re raising taxes on anybody. What we’re trying to do is prevent the largest tax increase in U.S. history.”

One proposal under consideration is a roughly 40% top tax bracket on incomes over $1 million, Bloomberg first reported. Republican Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley verified the proposal during a Tuesday town hall on Tuesday when he fielded a question regarding taxing billionaires, according to NBC News.

“This might surprise you that the list of possibilities we have on our working sheet that the members of the Finance Committee, and I’m a member of that committee, are going to discuss is raising from 37% to 39.6% in that very group of people you talk about,” Grassley said, according to the outlet.

“Now, that doesn’t mean it’s going to happen,” he added.

The present top tax bracket is 37% for incomes above $609,351. Republican lawmakers advanced a budget blueprint on April 10 without the tax increase.

Hiking taxes on the wealthy could assist with the bill’s cost. Fiscal hawks want it to be deficit-neutral, while moderates oppose Medicaid reductions.

House GOP leaders are reportedly against the tax hike.

Trump has also criticized increasing the top tax rate, warning during his campaign that Democrats would raise it “up to 39 or 40 percent or maybe even 50 percent.”

However, Republican Maryland Rep. Andy Harris, chair of the House Freedom Caucus, described a 40% tax bracket as a “reasonable way to pay for” Trump’s priorities.

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