Report: Steve Bannon Pushing for Increasing Taxes on The Very Rich

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Steve Bannon, one of President Donald Trump’s top White House advisers, is pushing for tax reform that increases the top marginal rate from 39.5 percent to 44 percent, according to The Intercept. This is in conflict with Trump’s earlier proposed plan, which would lower the top marginal rate to 35 percent.

However, it is not in direct conflict with what Trump has said about taxing the rich. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, he said,” if there’s upward revision it’s going to be on high-income people.”

Speaking further on the subject, Trump said, “I have wealthy friends that say to me, ‘I don’t mind paying more tax.” According to The Intercept, White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that specifics of Trump’s proposed tax plan would be released soon.

It’s no surprise that Bannon is one of the voices pushing for increased taxes on the rich. The former Breitbart CEO has pushed for increased taxes earlier this month according to Fox News. Bannon allegedly said that he wanted,”the top tax bracket to have a 4 in front of it.”

Sean Spicer, the White House spokesperson at the time, denied that it was an accurate portrayal of Bannon’s views.

Breitbart’s John Carney wrote an article that was favorable to Bannon’s push for increased taxes on the people making over $5 million. He wrote:

“Raising the top rate would also not necessarily raise taxes on many Americans. For example, a tax plan that included a 44 percent rate on income over $1 million but compressed the current brackets from seven to four by lowering the 15 percent bracket to 10 percent, the 33 and 28 percent brackets to 25 percent, and lowering the current 39.6 percent to 35 percent, would very likely lower the effective tax rate on nearly everyone.  That’s because the bulk of income would be taxed at the lower rates, with the new top rate applying only to income above the $1 million mark.”

According to The Intercept, the tax hike would increase revenue by $18 billion a year or $180 billion over ten years. The federal government had a deficit of  $552 billion in 2016 according to InsideGov.com.

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