Republicans focus on protecting the 1 percent and big business from even having to pay their legal share of taxes
As part of his fiscal year 2024 budget blueprint unveiled
Thursday, Biden calls for a 25% minimum tax on the wealthiest 0.01%; reforms to
ensure high-income individuals pay their fair share into the Medicare Hospital
Insurance trust fund; and repealing 2017 tax cuts and restoring the top tax
rate of 39.6% for people making over $400,000 a year.
Along with pushing for raising the corporate tax rate
from 21% to 28%—which is still far below the 35% rate that was in place prior
to Republicans' 2017 tax overhaul—the president advocates expanding the child
tax credit while eliminating tax subsidies for cryptocurrency transactions,
fossil fuel companies, and real estate.
Biden also "proposes to reform the international tax
system to reduce the incentives to book profits in low-tax jurisdictions, stop
corporate inversions to tax havens, and raise the tax rate on U.S.
multinationals' foreign earnings from 10.5% to 21%," according to a
White House fact sheet.
Although many of these proposals are unlikely to go anywhere due to the GOP-controlled U.S. House and divided Senate, Groundwork Collaborative executive director Lindsay Owens said Friday that "it's great to see President Biden leading the charge to increase taxes on billionaires, crack down on stock buybacks by massive corporations, and prevent the wealthiest Americans from cheating on their taxes and avoiding paying what they owe."
"The tax policies laid out in this budget are fair,
popular, and long overdue," she declared. "The next time someone
claims that we can't afford to protect Social Security and Medicare for future
generations—or that we need to cut popular investments in education,
healthcare, housing, or clean energy—show them President Bident's latest budget
proposal and ask them why they care so much about protecting the ultrawealthy
from paying their fair share."
According to Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy executive director Amy Hanauer, "President Biden's budget proposal presents a bold vision for what tax justice should look like in America."
"The provisions would raise substantial revenue,
fund important priorities, and increase tax fairness," she stressed.
"The revenue raisers are laser-focused on taxing very wealthy individuals
and corporations, and the budget would reduce the deficit while easing costs
for American families, particularly for middle and low-income parents."
Americans for Tax Fairness executive director Frank
Clemente asserted Thursday
that "President Biden's budget plainly shows whose side he's on: working
families struggling with the high cost of healthcare, childcare, housing and
more—not the wealthy elite and their big corporations rolling in dough and dodging
their fair share of taxes."
"Republicans have already made clear they're on the side of the 1 Percenters and big corporations by trying to shield rich tax cheats and endangering Social Security and Medicare with deficit-busting tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations," Clemente added. "The contrast couldn't be sharper."
As Common Dreams reported earlier
Friday, the House Freedom Caucus said its 45 members would "consider
voting" to raise the U.S. debt limit if their colleagues in Congress
abandon some of Biden's key economic priorities, slash hundreds of billions of dollars
in social spending, and restrict federal agencies' future budgets.
Responding on Twitter, Biden said that "extreme MAGA
House Republicans are showing us what they value: tax breaks for the
rich."