President Donald Trump told Time magazine that he loves "the concept" of raising taxes on millionaires in America.
In an interview with Time on Tuesday that was released Friday, Trump said about the potential big earners' tax hike, "I love that. I actually love the concept."
Trump backpedaled a bit as he clarified his position, saying "But I don't want it to be used against me politically, because I've seen people lose elections for less, especially with the fake news."
The question about a millionaire tax increase is related to a potential plan to do that being floated by some Congressional Republicans. Trump said from a strictly personal viewpoint, he'd be fine with a tax hike. "But me, as a rich person, would not mind paying and you know, we're talking about very little. We're talking about one point. It doesn't make that much difference."
But Trump said he had no question about the difficulty of raising taxes and the political implications that would carry. "I could just see somebody trying to bring that up as a subject, and, you know, say, 'Oh, he raised taxes.' Well, I wouldn't be, really, you know, in the true sense, I wouldn't. I'd be raising them on wealthy to take care of middle class."
Trump spoke with reporters on Wednesday about the potential of a tax hike on the wealthiest Americans and said it "would be very disruptive, because a lot of the millionaires would leave the country," according to The Hill. Trump added, "Now with transportation so quick and so easy, they leave countries."