Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 06:03 pm
After previously claiming that raising taxes on the rich would destroy America, Donald Trump went on Fox News today and supported increasing taxes on the wealthy.
Here is the video via Media Matters:
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After telling Fox News viewers that since the election is over the real unemployment numbers can come out now, Trump was asked about the fiscal cliff and said, “You cannot afford not to make a deal. Too many repercussions, too many, I mean it’s just uncertainty. You have to have certainty. Otherwise, you’re not going to have a successful business. We have so little certainty in this country. They really have to hammer out a deal. If they do, it’s gotta be a good deal. Otherwise, we are going over the cliff.”
Later, Trump agreed with Bill Kristol’s support for raising taxes on raising taxes on the rich, “Well, I think look. If they can come out with a fantastic deal for the country, and that means cutting like you’ve never seen before. Bring our deficit down to a really manageable number or ever, I am okay with that. I’m okay with whatever they do as long as they get this country going again.”
This is the same man who told Fox News last April that Obama was, “Taking away a lot of incentives from a lot of people that produce a lot of taxes. Trump also claimed that raising taxes on the wealthy would drive drive wealth out of the country, “It creates the wrong image. You really have to keep the taxes down.”
Trump also wrote in his book Time To Get Tough that raising taxes would destroy the American work ethic,
“No doubt you work hard for your money–I know I do–and you should be permitted to keep more of it. Anything less creates a disincentive for a strong national work ethic. President Ronald Reagan saw it the same way: “The more government takes in taxes, the less incentive people have to work.” As with most things, President Reagan had it right, But Reagan was merely echoing the economic thoughts of President John F. Kennedy, who had already said, in 1962, “The paradoxical truth is that the tax rates are too high today and tax revenues are too low and the soundest way to raise revenues in the long run is to cut rates now.”
Reagan and Kennedy’s views prove that smart tax policy shouldn’t be a partisan issue. It should be common sense. If you tax something you get less of it. It’s as simple as that. The more you tax work, the less people are willing to work. The more you tax investments, the fewer investments you’ll get. This isn’t rocket science.
Donald Trump is now embracing the very thing that he once said would send the wrong image, and before that wrote would destroy the work ethic of our country. America’s fake TV billionaire has now embraced what the right likes to refer to as “socialism.” (It is not really socialism, but according to Fox News, anything President Obama does is socialist.)
Trump has gone from show me your transcripts to I can support the illegitimate Kenyan president’s plan to tax the rich.
So much for 2012 being a status quo election.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
