House Republicans’ grand plan to slash their own taxes has hit a significant road bump: President Donald Trump has changed his tax-cutting tune. Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith met with the president late last week to salvage the GOP’s tax plan after Trump threw a massive wrench into their strategy by demanding lawmakers raise taxes for the wealthiest households in the country.

Tomorrow, Smith and other committee members will vote on whether these hikes make it into Republicans’ final budget.

During a phone call first reported by Punchbowl News last week, Trump privately pressed House Speaker Mike Johnson to create a new tax bracket for individuals making more than $2.5 million a year, raising their income tax rate from 37 percent to 39.6 percent.

Then on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said he would “graciously accept” a “tiny” hike for the rich to pay for the rest of the bill’s tax cuts but stopped short of endorsing the move.

“In any event, Republicans should probably not do it, but I’m OK if they do!!!,” Trump wrote.

During his call with Johnson, the president also reportedly reiterated his desire to eliminate Wall Street’s infamous carried-interest loophole, a massive tax break that Trump previously derided as “getting away with murder.”

The loophole, which allows private equity, venture capital, and hedge fund managers to write off their investment income at the 20 percent capital-gains rate, has long been a target of both Democratic and Republican presidents. But thanks to hundreds of millions of dollars spent by Wall Street on lobbying and campaign donations, the carried-interest loophole has stuck — for now.

During his first term, Trump slashed the corporate tax burden from 35 to 21 percent and lowered rates for the highest earners, netting the top 1 percent of households an average of $60,000 annually. These 2017 cuts saved the bottom 60 percent less than $500 a year.

During the 2024 campaign, Trump promised Wall Street that he would keep their taxes low, and now powerful anti-tax interests are lashing out against “traitors in the White House.”

Trump could be reversing course on Big Business’s successful decades-long movement to lower taxes for the rich and powerful.