White House and Republican leaders are considering major changes to upcoming tax legislation, including scaling back plans for large-scale tax cuts for the wealthy, as Republicans seek to win support from Democrats in Congress, three people briefed on the discussions said.

The White House is considering, among other things, keeping the top tax rate for individuals at 39.6 percent, decreasing the benefits top earners would see in the tax package by scrapping an earlier proposal that would cut that rate to 35 percent.

White House negotiators are also considering giving up on a push to repeal the estate tax, which is levied on individuals who die with more than $5.49 million in their estate. Republicans have long called for repealing the estate tax, but Democrats have raised objections, saying repeal would only benefit the wealthy and would add to the federal debt.

The White House and Republican leaders are still debating how to proceed, and they could end up proposing changes to both the top tax rate and the estate tax, according to the three people. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the party’s internal deliberations.

The White House and Republican leaders remain fully committed to reducing the corporate tax rate and delivering tax cuts for the middle class, the people said.

The fluidity of the discussions illustrates how President Trump has sought to reframe the tax discussions as a way to help businesses and the middle class and not the wealthiest Americans.

In April, the White House put out a one-page blueprint of its tax plan that would have repealed the estate tax, eliminated the alternative-minimum tax and cut the top individual tax rate from 39.6 to 35 percent. These changes and others would serve as a huge windfall for the wealthiest Americans, budget experts found. The Tax Policy Center estimated that roughly half of all the tax changes would benefit the top 1 percent of all earners, with each person in that group receiving on average a $175,000 tax cut.

Senior White House officials for months defended the calls for tax cuts that would benefit the wealthy, saying they are necessary to help people invest in the economy and hire more workers. But Trump last week stated the tax plan would not – on net – reduce the taxes for wealthy Americans, and he predicted that some could even pay more.

Americans pay income taxes on a tiered system, and there are seven tiers. Upper-income Americans pay a 39.6 percent rate on all income above $418,400. They pay a 35 percent rate on all income between $416,700 and $418,400. And they pay a 33 percent rate on income between $191,650 and $416,700. There are four other tax rates for income earned below that amount.

The White House had proposed collapsing these seven brackets into three brackets, with the new top bracket sitting at 35 percent. If it decides to keep the top bracket at 39.6 percent and create two new brackets, it could still give everyone a tax cut but lessen the size of that cut for the wealthy.

The White House and Republican leaders next week are planning to provide more details of their tax push, though they could leave out key details as they continue to negotiate with members of Congress. The White House is hoping a tax cut plan can be completed by the end of the year, and support from even a few Democrats could help it reach an agreement sooner.