President Donald Trump is willing to compromise on the benefits to the wealthy in his proposed tax plan, White House officials told USA Today Thursday.
White House legislative affairs director Marc Short singled out ending the carried interest rate, a preferential tax rate for hedge-fund managers, telling the paper that Trump's "not just open to it, I would say, frankly, he wants it."
Short also told donors in a briefing last week that Trump is listening to ideas being tossed around on Capitol Hill, such as a "reverse cap" so taxpayers with lower income can still benefit, and that Trump will likely save the idea for negotiations in the Senate.
Despite meeting with the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday, Trump does not appear to have made much headway in reaching an agreement with Democrats. After the meeting, only Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas, John Thune of South Dakota, and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania spoke with reporters.
Sen. Bob Casey, D-Penn., said in a phone interview with reporters that the GOP isn't "serious" about focusing on helping the middle class in its tax plan.
"They don't seem to be serious despite their rhetoric," he said, adding that it's a "strange credulity" that corporate tax cuts will benefit the middle class.
"They will have to travel a great distance of hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars to have the rhetoric align," the senator said.
Casey also cast doubt on Trump's vow to work with Democrats, noting that he made the same vow to work with the party on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program before reversing, and that the White House may be trying to create the appearance of bipartisanship without actually including Democrats in the drafting process.
"The ignoring (of Democrats) is ongoing," he said.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.