In a pointed message to his former running mate, former Vice President Mike Pence is sounding the alarm over President Donald Trump’s reported openness to raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans — a move Pence argues would punish small business owners and steer the GOP away from its core economic principles.
The comments come amid mounting speculation in Washington over how the Trump administration will handle the looming expiration of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the cornerstone of Trump’s first-term domestic agenda. Without congressional action, key elements of the law — including lowered individual tax rates — are set to expire this year.
To keep parts of the tax cuts while funding other ambitious second-term initiatives, Trump has reportedly considered allowing the top marginal tax rate to rise from 37% to 39.6% for individuals earning $2.5 million or more, and closing the carried interest loophole. According to a source familiar with the matter, Trump floated the idea during a recent call with House Speaker Mike Johnson, signaling a rare break from traditional Republican tax orthodoxy.
But Pence, speaking to Fox News Digital after receiving the JFK Profiles in Courage award in Boston, was unequivocal: no new taxes — especially not on small business.
“Any suggestion… that we raise the top margin rate… would be an enormous tax increase on small business owners across America,” Pence said. “It needs to be opposed.”
He emphasized that many high-income earners are, in fact, small business operators filing as individuals, reinvesting their income back into their companies — a nuance he believes gets lost in political shorthand about “millionaires.”
“The majority of people that file taxes of a million dollars are simply individuals that own businesses,” Pence explained. “If you raise that top margin, it would be an enormous tax increase on small business America.”
Instead, Pence called for making the Trump-era tax cuts permanent, positioning that move as a catalyst for long-term economic growth and stability.
While Pence praised Trump for his 2024 election victory and commended his policies on border security, military readiness, and national defense, he also issued a broader warning: straying from conservative economic values risks undermining the president’s legacy and the Republican Party’s future.
“I truly do believe that some of the other steps the president is taking away from that conservative agenda should be a concern,” Pence said. “For prosperity… for the success of our country, we need to stick to those time-honored principles of strong defense, American leadership… less government, less taxes, traditional moral values, and the right to life.”
This isn’t the first time Pence has used his post-vice presidency platform to distinguish his brand of conservatism from Trump’s evolving agenda. But it may be the most direct policy-focused rebuke yet — underscoring the ongoing tension between Reagan-era fiscal restraint and the populist realignments reshaping today’s GOP.
