House Leadership Backs Trump's "All Across the Board" Income Tax Cuts

House Republican leadership on Tuesday ruled out any possibility of allowing the top income tax rate for individuals to increase, backing President Trump’s call for “permanent income tax cuts, all across the board.”

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), and Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) made it clear that raising the top income tax rate is completely off the table.

Below are the responses from House Republican leaders when asked about anonymous White House staff’s “fantasy of raising rates on top earners,” as reported by Punchbowl’s Jake Sherman.

Whip Emmer

Emmer tilted his head back and laughed very loudly:

“Hahhahahahha no.”

Speaker Mike Johnson

“It’s not something that’s been discussed … I’m never for increasing taxes, ever.”

Leader Steve Scalise

“No. No. No.”

By rejecting any effort to increase taxes on individuals, including allowing the top income tax rate to expire and revert to pre-Trump levels, House Republican leadership is making it clear that the House stands with President Trump’s call for “permanent income tax cuts, all across the board.”

Trumps’s call for across the board, permanent tax cuts for all:

President Trump in his Joint Address to Congress on March 4:

“We’re seeking permanent income tax cuts all across the board.”

“And the next phase of our plan to deliver the greatest economy in history is for this Congress to pass tax cuts for everybody. They’re in there. They’re waiting for you to vote.”

On the campaigning trail, Trump also said:

“Instead of a Biden tax hike, I’ll give you a Trump middle class, upper class, lower class, business class, big tax cut.”

Trump also pledged:

“I will make the Trump tax cuts permanent. You know they expire in a year. And we will cut your taxes even more than that.”