White House chief strategist Steve Bannon wants a tax-reform plan with a new 44 percent top rate for people earning more than $5 million a year, according to news reports Wednesday.
The proceeds would be used to pay for tax cuts for other Americans, The Intercept reported.
The website based its Bannon report on "three people who've spoken to him recently."
Currently, the top U.S. tax rate is 39.6 percent – and President Donald Trump has discussed a plan consisting of only three rates, with the top being lowered to 35 percent, according to the Intercept.
Bannon has reportedly been interested in raising the top marginal rate to "something with a four in front of it," but the 44 percent rate is apparently a "more fleshed-out proposal."
Bannon, 63, has long described himself as an "economic nationalist" and has touted that position on Breitbart News, where he was executive chairman before joining the Trump campaign last year.
The Intercept quoted IRS data saying, for the 2014 tax year, slightly more than 43,000 people filed tax returns claiming income of at least $5 million.
That translated to $600 billion in taxes, or 8.8 percent of the total taxes paid, according to the report.
However, the 44 percent rate would take effect only at the $5 million level – though it would bring in nearly $18 billion every year, the Intercept reported.
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