You're going to have populist tax cuts on no tax on tips, no tax on Social Security, no tax, no tax on overtime to make up that gap. I hate to say this. I know you got a bunch of still Republican, Orthodox, [00:00:16] Orthodox folks out here. You're going to have to raise taxes on the wealthy. Some in President Donald Trump's inner circle are amusing the possibility of pretty significant tax hikes on the nation's wealthy in order [00:00:35] to not necessarily balance the budget, but at least raise some revenue for the federal government in order to justify another $4.5 trillion in tax cuts. Now, as we all know, Donald Trump and the Republican Party want to extend the 2017 tax cuts that Trump secured back in his first term. [00:00:57] But in order to do that, they need to justify it. They need to cut spending. They need to get rid of waste, fraud and abuse. And they also need to find ways to raise revenue, which is why the topic of raising taxes on the rich has come up now. Now, this news was confirmed by two administration officials [00:01:13] who spoke to the Washington Post. There were three other individuals who were briefed on the matter. They confirmed the story to the Washington Post. And according to Jeff Stein, who reported this story for WaPo, there are some surprising figures in the Trump administration who are totally on board [00:01:30] for raising taxes for the rich. Those individuals, by the way, include Vice President JD Vance and someone I would never expect, the budget director, Russell Vought. So they both expressed support to raise taxes on the rich. [00:01:47] Also in support is the guy that you heard from in the very beginning of this story, Steve Bannon. He's been publicly urging Donald Trump to endorse the plan in order to defang the Democratic Party and their attacks on the GOP being the party of the rich. [00:02:04] Now, look, make no mistake about it, so far, the Republican Party continues to be the party of the rich. There's been a lot of rhetoric from Donald Trump's campaign, and now the Trump administration about how they're looking out for the middle class, the working class. I haven't really seen much policy to bolster those claims. [00:02:22] If they do actually raise taxes on top earners in the country, now we're having a conversation. But is that likely to happen? Hold. You're about to hear from the opponents to this policy in just a minute. But before you do, here's what Steve Bannon said. [00:02:39] He says this meaning raising taxes on the rich guts, the AOC Bernie oligarchy tour politically when it comes to higher taxes on the rich. It's game, set, match. It's a no brainer. This would destroy the Democrats. [00:02:55] And look, I think he's right about that, to be quite frank. I think that Bannon, despite all of the issues I have with him, is actually pretty smart. He's savvy when it comes to political strategy, and so he wants to destroy [00:03:10] the one significant talking point the Democratic Party has had against Republicans. And that's the fact that they've always looked out for corporate executives over the best interests of the American people, over the best interests of American workers. Now, Trump claims he wants to change that, but will he? [00:03:26] And again, we haven't really seen much evidence to bolster that claim yet. Now, Bannon also got into the nitty gritty of how the tax bill could work. So one proposal would allow the top tax rate to revert to its level [00:03:41] before the 2017 tax law. Oh my God. I mean, could they even survive that? So from 37% to 39.6%, this would raise taxes for those with more than $626,350 in earnings. [00:03:58] People were paying that rate prior to the 2017 tax bill. And guess what? Income inequality in this country was still growing. So they're going to be all right. All right. They're going to be okay. If the tax rate increase that is the top tax rate. [00:04:15] So they're not going to pay 39.6% on the entirety of their income. But you know, the, the top, or a certain amount of money they make above the $625,000 will be taxed at that 39.6% rate. [00:04:33] So that's one of the proposals. What else is going on? Well, there are other things that they're considering. So Bannon and some other Trump allies have also discussed a third idea to create an even higher top tax bracket for those earning more than $3 million [00:04:48] or $5 million, two of the people said. One of the other ideas, by the way, was to create, a bracket that would charge higher taxes for individuals earning any, any amount of money above a million bucks a year. [00:05:04] Right. So they're playing with these ideas in the end. It's unlikely to go anywhere, but I think that it's interesting to hear that there are people within Trump's orbit that are pushing for these types of policies. Now, here's what's also super surprising. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is allegedly open to a range of ideas, [00:05:23] including the possibility of raising taxes on Americans earning more than $5 million per year. Now, let's talk about the anti-tax pro deregulation group, which honestly makes up the bulk of the Republican Party. [00:05:39] Obviously, those folks still exist within the Trump administration as well. And there's a lot of outside individuals, outside allies of Trump's, who are in his ear to discourage him from raising taxes on the wealthy. Those individuals include Newt Gingrich, Steve Moore, who Trump actually tapped for [00:05:58] the fed board back during his first term. Larry Kudlow and Sean Hannity, you know, the typical neo liberal Republicans and so more who's not who's now the president of some think tank called the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, [00:06:15] pointed to former President George H.W. Bush's embrace of higher taxes as political suicide. He's like, remember what happened to George H.W. Bush when he raised taxes? He didn't win a second term. So that's what he's trying to warn Trump about. [00:06:30] But George H.W. Bush made a pretty bold promise during his 1988 address. And if you weren't around back then or if you can't remember what he said, here's a little reminder. And I'm the one who will not raise taxes. [00:06:48] My opponent now says he'll raise them as a last resort or a third resort. But when a politician talks like that, you know that's one resort he'll be checking into. And I. My opponent. [00:07:05] My opponent won't rule out raising taxes, but I will. And the Congress will push me to raise taxes. And I'll say no. And they'll push and I'll say no, and they'll push again. And I'll say to them, read my lips. [00:07:22] - No new taxes. - Yeah. He then raised taxes, and people were really upset about that. But he coupled those tax hikes with massive unpopular spending cuts. And yeah, that did hurt him politically. [00:07:39] So the president accepted several tax increases, most notably an increase in the top personal tax rate to 31% from Reagan's 28%. Democrats accepted spending cuts twice as large in dollar value. [00:07:57] When Americans are experiencing higher taxes, but they're getting less in return in terms of, you know, government programs. Yeah, they're going to be very upset. But you know Trump's a little different. I mean, I think Trump actually can get away with raising taxes [00:08:13] on the highest earners in the country, raise revenue for the federal government, and still present himself as a working class hero because he's not raising taxes under these plans that we're talking about. It's not like he's advocating to raise taxes on working class people, but I don't [00:08:30] think he's going to end up raising taxes on anyone, to be quite honest with you. And I think that's going to be the case because of the influencing figures within the administration and more importantly, what's going down over at Capitol Hill, because we're already hearing [00:08:45] a lot of pushback from people like House speaker Mike Johnson. Now, can Trump bully him if Trump actually wants to raise taxes on the rich? Maybe. Yeah, I think that's possible. But no, I mean, when you listen to what Johnson's saying, he seems like he will be undeterred. [00:09:03] He will not sign off on higher taxes for his donors. I mean, the richest among us. So let's hear a little from his interview recently. I believe it was on Fox News, if I'm not mistaken. Here's what Mike Johnson has to say about the possibility of Congress [00:09:18] passing a tax hike on the rich. There have been some reports out there that the Trump administration is looking at pushing the top tax rate for those making over $1 million back up towards 39, 40%. Is that something that we should expect from a Republican bill? [00:09:37] - I would not expect that. - We have been working against that idea. 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 just wait and see. [00:09:54] There's more details coming. And I think you're going to be very pleased by what you see. 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. Was that tinted lip? Lip balm. His. His lips were very rosy looking. Anyway. [00:10:09] I'm not surprised at all that Mike Johnson is not in favor of raising taxes on the rich. His campaigns are funded by the rich. The rich do not want to see their taxes go up. And joining him are the who's who of neoliberal Republicans, including Senator Dave McCormick from Pennsylvania, Senator Ted Cruz. [00:10:28] And so, again, I. With the pushback in Capitol Hill, with the fact that there are close Trump allies discouraging him from raising taxes on the rich, I genuinely predict that it's not going to happen. But I'm at least having a little bit of fun with the panic that we're seeing [00:10:44] among the opponents to these tax hikes. So let's talk a little bit about Steve Moore, a little more about Steve Moore because he's hilarious man. So he's totally losing it over the idea that a Republican administration [00:10:59] might raise taxes on the rich. He says, quote, this is a potential crisis in the party. It sounds like Bernie Sanders economics. In fact, some have especially soured on Vice President JD Vance because of his, [00:11:17] you know, economic populism, which actually appears to be somewhat sincere. So Vance's openness to higher taxes, in some circumstances, has provoked alarm among some conservatives, given his strong position to claim the GOP presidential nomination in 2028. [00:11:34] Vance, in 2023, said he opposes further cuts to the corporate tax rate, which the president's 2017 tax law lowered from 35% to 21%. While in the Senate, Vance also explored bipartisan measures to close tax loopholes for large businesses. [00:11:53] So I love watching the panic, I really do. Even though I'm not dumb enough to think, I'm not naive enough to think that a Republican administration is going to push for high taxes or higher taxes on the richest Americans. [00:12:09] Still, though, the idea that there are diverse like there are diverse thoughts, diverse opinions within the administration. I think that's a good thing. I really do. And who knows, maybe that very, very small, that minuscule populist wing [00:12:27] of the Trump administration could grow into something bigger in the future. Who knows? Either way, I think that both parties are realizing that there is real anger in the country among working people who have gotten a raw deal for many, many decades, [00:12:43] wages stagnant since the 1970s. Americans are unable to buy homes. You know, when we talk about the American dream being dead, every facet of life has become far too expensive. And people look at the small group of people who get to hoard all the wealth, [00:13:00] and they're angered by it. Now, talking about raising taxes is one thing, and I think the mistake that the left makes is we just kind of leave it at that. We have the debate about how we need to raise taxes and then we move on. I think we need to have a better conversation, a real debate about where [00:13:18] those resources end up going as well, because there is, in my opinion, a lot of waste in the government. And I'm not talking about social services and things like that. I'm talking about funding wars abroad. I'm talking about defense contracts with these private defense contractors [00:13:37] who obviously, you know, I think that they overestimate, I'll put it that way, the amount of money it costs to develop various weapons that the government contracts with them to obtain. [00:13:52] Like, it's just there's just a lot of grift going on in the federal government. And when there's grift going on in the federal government, you and I are the ones who get screwed over. It's our tax money. And by the way, the other thing is, I think the Medicare system should negotiate drug prices for all pharmaceutical drugs, not for a handful [00:14:09] for all pharmaceutical drugs. It is so incredibly unjust that we are being price gouged by pharmaceutical companies. We all know it. The federal government knows it. In fact, the federal government allows it to happen. So if Trump really wants to find some cost savings, how about start [00:14:27] with the pharmaceutical drug prices and allow Medicare to negotiate those prices so they're not being price gouged? I doubt he's going to do that. But there are some real ways to save money. It's just that, Republican benefactors, donors, they're not fans of those [00:14:45] those strategies so unlikely to happen. Trump has just confirmed that his administration will not raise taxes on millionaires and billionaires. Obviously, my prediction was right. I just wish he had like said that before. I did a whole segment about it. [00:15:00] Every time you ring the bell below, an angel gets his wings. Totally not true, but it does keep you updated on our live shows.