Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump said Monday his recent comments about what wealthier individuals could pay under his tax proposal are being misrepresented, and that the wealthy might end up paying more than what’s currently outlined in his plans — though still less than they are right now.
“I put in by far the biggest tax decrease,” Mr. Trump said Monday on CNN’s “New Day.” “And that really is a proposal, because we have to go to Congress, we have to go to the Senate, we have to go to our congressmen and -women and we have to negotiate a deal. So it really is a proposal, but it’s a very steep proposal.”
“Everybody across the board — businesses — everybody’s getting a tax cut, especially the middle class,” he said. “And I said that I may have to increase it on the wealthy. I’m not going to allow it to be increased on the middle class.”
“Now, if I increase it on the wealthy, that means they’re still going to be paying less than they pay now,” he said. “I’m not talking about increasing from this point — I’m talking about increasing from my tax proposal.”
“They will be getting a reduction, but the big reduction is going to be for business and for the middle class, because the middle class is being decimated in our country,” he said.
“And yet, they go then and talk about like I’m giving a tax increase for the wealthy. I’m not,” he said. “I said they may have to pay somewhat more than my proposal, but my proposal is much less than people are paying” right now.
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Mr. Trump spoke about his tax proposal on NBC’s “Meet the Press” this week, and he said he expected the final negotiated deal to be different than what he’s put out.
“They’re going to want to raise it for the rich, frankly. They’re going to want to raise it for the rich more than anybody else,” Mr. Trump said on NBC. “But the middle class has to be protected.”
“The rich is probably going to end up paying more. And business might have to pay a little bit more. But we’re giving a massive business tax cut,” he said.
Asked about businesses paying more but still getting a massive tax cut, Mr. Trump said they might have to pay a little bit more than what’s in his proposal.
“They may have to pay a little bit more than my proposal,” he said. “I’m not talking about more than they’re paying now.”
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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