Trump dismisses reports claiming he’s open to tax hikes on high earners: 'A lot would leave the country'

WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump dismissed reports on Wednesday, April 23, that he’s open to tax hikes on high-earning individuals and said that such a decision would lead to many of them leaving the country.

Axios reported in March that some in the White House suggested letting tax cuts for individuals earning more than $609,351 and married couples earning more than $731,201 expire. 

Donald Trump dismisses reports about being open to tax hikes on rich people

Donald Trump signed several executive orders in the Oval Office on Wednesday, following which he took questions from reporters. 

When a reporter asked, "Would you support a millionaire tax?" the president replied, "I think it would be disruptive because a lot of the millionaires would leave the country," as per Mediaite. 

He continued, "You know, the old days, they left states. They’d go from one state to the other. Now, with transportation so quick and so easy, they leave countries. You lose a lot of money if you do that."

The commander-in-chief added, "That would ... and other countries that have done it have lost a lot of people. They lose their wealthy people. That would be bad because the wealthy people pay the tax, ok?"

Earlier in April, Trump said he was open to an increase in taxes during a meeting with Republican senators.

Moreover, the hike rumors led Fox News host Sean Hannity to call it a "bad" idea and say the move would "go against everything Donald Trump has ever believed in."

Donald Trump suggests tariff revenue could replace income taxes

Donald Trump told Fox Noticias on April 15 that increased tariffs could replace income taxes. He said, "There's a real chance. There is a chance that the money from tariffs could be so great that it would replace [the income tax]."

However, economists informed USA Today that the president's tariffs would struggle to raise enough money to replace income taxes completely.

Erica York, vice president of federal tax policy at the Tax Foundation, told the outlet, "A full replacement is absolutely, mechanically impossible. The math just doesn't work."

Meanwhile, Peter Navarro, Trump’s senior counselor for trade and manufacturing, stated that they could bring in around $6 trillion over the next 10 years, or $600 billion per year, per the outlet.

However, the Yale Budget Lab said the tariffs would bring in less than half of that amount, at an estimated $2.4 trillion in the coming 10 years.

Keith Maskus, a professor emeritus of economics at the University of Colorado Boulder, told USA Today, "If you tariff everything from everywhere, you’re going to get revenue generated. But the scale of it just isn’t big enough."

Ernie Tedeschi, director of economics at the Yale Budget Lab, said that even if Trump increases tariffs further, the math "is impossible,"

Internet agrees with Donald Trump as he denies being open to tax hikes on rich people

Netizens seemed to agree with Donald Trump as he dismissed reports that he’s open to tax hikes on high-earning individuals and said that this would lead to many of them leaving the country.

One wrote, "Truer words have never been heard," and another added, "Mostly true. Look at what happened in Denmark and the UK in the last few years."

A person said, "He’s by and large right on this one," whereas someone else mentioned, "He's not wrong."

"He's right. You can't tax the rich. It's an international problem not solvable nationally. Companies and foundations are built in complex webs across countries. A simple rule to pay more won't work," another comment read. One more echoed, "Maybe Trump is right."

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.