Stephen Bannon reportedly wants to raise taxes on the rich

(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

published 3 July 2017

When the Trump administration released a one-page outline of its tax reform goals earlier this year, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin touted the proposal as the "biggest tax cut and the largest tax reform in the history of our country." The plan would move from seven income tax brackets to just three, capping the highest at a 35 percent tax.

Chief strategist Stephen Bannon may have other ideas, Axios reports: He wants to raise taxes on America's highest earners. Bannon reportedly told other White House staff he wants the top income tax bracket to "have a four in front of it," which would mean raising that tax rate to something in the 40s, a hike from the current rate of 39.6 percent for individuals making $418,400 or more and couples making $470,700 or more.

Bannon's proposal — and his populism more broadly — puts him at odds with President Trump's expansive tax cut promises, as well as with most of his colleagues tasked with crafting the administration's full tax reform proposal. However, polling suggests raising taxes on the rich could prove popular among a majority of Americans, offering a tempting shot a public approval for an administration with record-low popularity.

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.

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