--- title: Donald Trump Won't Rule Out Tax Hikes on Wealthy description: Donald Trump's current tax plan implements cuts wealthy Americans, but in a new interview he said the rates could go up, instead. canonical: https://time.com/4322567/donald-trump-tax-plan-rich/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-09T11:55:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-15T01:39:44.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Won't Rule Out Tax Hikes on Wealthy og:description: "By the time it's negotiated, they'll go up" og:url: https://time.com/4322567/donald-trump-tax-plan-rich/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt71fceb9c595ef245/6988924d0a4a220d869c9930/donald-trump-testify-unuversity-lawsuit-court.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: GOP Presidential Candidate Donald Trump Holds Indiana Primary Night Gathering In New York og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Won't Rule Out Tax Hikes on Wealthy twitter:description: "By the time it's negotiated, they'll go up" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt71fceb9c595ef245/6988924d0a4a220d869c9930/donald-trump-testify-unuversity-lawsuit-court.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Suggests He's Open to Tax Hike on Wealthy  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Updated: Dec 15, 2023 1:39 AM UTCPublished: May 9, 2016 11:55 AM UTC  Republican presidential front runner Donald Trump speaks to supporters and the media at Trump Tower in Manhattan following his victory in the Indiana primary on May 03, 2016 in New York City. Republican presidential front runner Donald Trump speaks to supporters and the media at Trump Tower in Manhattan following his victory in the Indiana primary on May 03, 2016 in New York City.Spencer Platt/Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Updated: Dec 15, 2023 1:39 AM UTCPublished: May 9, 2016 11:55 AM UTC Donald Trump’s current tax plan implements cuts on wealthy Americans, but in a new interview he said the rates could actually go up, instead. “On my plan they’re going down. But by the time it’s negotiated, they’ll go up,” [Trump told ABC News](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/donald-trump-walks-back-tax-plan-negotiated/story?id=38959168) on Sunday. Trump said that in negotiating his deal with Democrats, lowering taxes on the wealthy would not be his priority. “I will try and keep everything,” he said. “What I really want is lower on business, because business, we’re the highest-taxed nation in the world. And I want lower on the middle class.” “I am willing to pay more, and you know what, the wealthy are willing to pay more,” Trump explained. In the presumptive GOP nominee’s [current tax plan](https://www.donaldjtrump.com/positions/tax-reform), the wealthiest individuals get a tax break from 39.6% to 25%. Monday morning, Trump told CNN that his comments had been misinterpreted, [_The Hill_ reports](http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/279182-trump-everybody-is-getting-a-tax-cut). “If I increase it on the wealthy, that means they’re still going to pay less than they’re paying now,” he said. “I’m not talking about increasing from this point, I’m talking about increasing from my tax proposals.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4322567/donald-trump-tax-plan-rich/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4322567/donald-trump-tax-plan-rich/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Suggests He's Open to Tax Hike on Wealthy","datePublished":"2016-05-09T11:55:33.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-15T01:39:44.000Z","description":"\"By the time it's negotiated, they'll go up\"","url":"https://time.com/4322567/donald-trump-tax-plan-rich/","keywords":["Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt71fceb9c595ef245/6988924d0a4a220d869c9930/donald-trump-testify-unuversity-lawsuit-court.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt71fceb9c595ef245/6988924d0a4a220d869c9930/donald-trump-testify-unuversity-lawsuit-court.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"GOP Presidential Candidate Donald Trump Holds Indiana Primary Night Gathering In New York","caption":"Republican presidential front runner Donald Trump speaks to supporters and the media at Trump Tower in Manhattan following his victory in the Indiana primary on May 03, 2016 in New York City.","creditText":"Spencer Platt/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4322567/donald-trump-tax-plan-rich/","name":"Donald Trump Suggests He's Open to Tax Hike on Wealthy"}}]}] ```