Trump Dismisses Raising Taxes on the Rich ‘Because a Lot of the Millionaires Would Leave the Country’

President Donald Trump threw cold water on reports that he’s open to tax hikes on high-earning individuals.

The administration and congressional Republicans have been working on a reconciliation bill that would extend the 2017 Trump tax cuts, most of which expire this year. Last month, it was reported that some in the White House suggested letting the tax cuts for higher earners – individuals making more than $609,351 and married couples making more than $731,201 – expire. If the provision is allowed to sunset, the tax rate for people in those categories would rise from 37% to 39.6%

This month, Trump reportedly expressed openness to an increase during a meeting with Republican senators. Rumors of the hikes prompted Fox News host and longtime Trump confidante Sean Hannity to call the idea “bad” and say the hike would “go against everything Donald Trump has ever believed in.”

On Wednesday, Trump signed several executive orders in the Oval Office before taking questions from reporters, one of whom asked about taxes on high earners.

“Would you support a millionaire tax?” one asked.

“I think it would be disruptive because a lot of the millionaires would leave the country,” the president responded. “You know, the old days, they left states. They’d go from one state to the other. Now, with transportation so quick and so easy, they leave countries. You lose a lot of money if you do that. That would– and other countries that have done it have lost a lot of people. They lose their wealthy people. That would be bad because the wealthy people pay the tax, ok?”

Watch above via NewsNation.