President Trump’s last-minute pitch to raise taxes on the highest-income Americans could be rewriting the conventional Republican political wisdom on the issue.

The president has sent mixed messages publicly about where he stands on the policy, and whether he thinks it’s good politics — both recognizing the political perils of reneging on a promise to keep tax rates lower, while seeing the upside in neutralizing Democratic arguments and finding more revenue.

The millionaire tax hike suggestion came as House Republicans are rushing to iron out the thorniest portions of President Trump’s legislative agenda together before meeting to advance the bills next week.

The House Ways and Means Committee released partial text of the tax portion of the bill on Friday that did not include a new tax bracket for millionaires. The committee is expected to make additions and changes to that text, though, and could potentially add it in by the end of a meeting scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.

But even if Republicans fully abandon the idea of taxing the rich more in this legislation, the back and forth has broken open arguments that have typically been off limits to Republicans could affect policymaking going forward.

Republicans had previously floated — and then ruled out — the idea of making high income earners pay more. The idea, however, bubbled up again from the White House this week as tax-writers met to try to nail down the tax legislation’s details.

A source familiar with the president’s thinking told The Hill on Thursday that Trump was “considering allowing the rate on individuals making $2.5 million or more to revert from 37% to the pre-2017 39.6%,” arguing it would “help pay for massive middle and working-class tax cuts, and protect Medicaid.”

That spurred a wave of opposition from tax-cut crusaders and resistance from some........

© The Hill