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A Biden administration will target billionaires and corporate America with massive tax hikes as part of that. project To reduce America's record national debt and boost the president in the run-up to the November election.
Plans expected to be unveiled in Thursday's State of the Union address and next week include raising the minimum corporate tax from 15 percent to 21 percent and a 25 percent minimum tax for billionaires.
The plan is to reduce America's record national debt by $3tn over the next decade. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the independent financial watchdog, The The country's debt piles up to reach $26.2tn by the end of 2023.
The plans, which are unlikely to pass Congress but are intended to differentiate Biden's progressive agenda from his Republican rival Donald Trump, have left most voters unconvinced by the president's performance on the economy.
Sixty percent say they disapprove of Biden's handling of the economy FT-Michigan Ross poll Conducted last month, 49 percent said they were financially worse off than when he took office in 2019.
Biden's annual State of the Union address represents a crucial opportunity for the 81-year-old president to convince skeptical voters.
Concerns about the president's frailty were bolstered by a recent report from the special counsel investigating Biden's handling of classified documents, which described the president as a “well-intentioned old man with a bad memory.”
A Democratic megadonor who co-hosted a fundraiser for the president last year told the Financial Times that Biden “needs to step down” for the next generation of leaders.
“I'm worried he won't win,” the donor said. “Our democracy is at stake. And here the Democrats have more opportunities.
58 percent of voters polled on Biden's proposal to raise the minimum corporate tax said big businesses were taking advantage of high inflation to raise their prices, while 36 percent blamed Democratic policies for the cost-of-living increase.
Economists are increasingly concerned about the fiscal plans of both Democrats and Republicans. CBO warns that public debt will rise from 99 percent of GDP at the end of 2024 to 116 percent of GDP by the end of 2034. This would mark the highest level ever recorded.
Biden has proposed introducing a billionaire's tax several times in the past few years. He has also said in the past that he would raise the top rate of corporate tax from 21 percent to 28 percent.
As part of the new plans, the administration wants to deny companies tax deductions for employees who earn more than $1 million. Senior management officials claim it will be more than $250 billion.
In contrast to Biden's revenue plans, Trump is expected to propose making permanent the tax cuts introduced during his first term, which currently expire in 2025.
Those cuts included a reduction in the benchmark corporate levy from 35 percent to 21 percent, bringing the U.S. closer to the average across advanced economies.
The OECD has proposed a global agreement to raise the global corporate tax rate to 15 percent.
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