What did Biden say in the State of the Union about increasing taxes on corporations and billionaires?
Biden used his final State of the Union address before the 2024 general elections to call for a minimum tax on billionaires and corporations once again.
President Joe Biden addressed a joint session of Congress to give his annual State of the Union speech on Thursday. Among the topics that he brought up, he wanted to speak about “the future of possibilities that we can build together.”
Included in that vision was establishing a “fundamental fairness for all Americans,” where the tax code no longer gives all the breaks to the wealthy and biggest corporations, which would allow the nation to “invest in the things and make this country great: health care, education, defense and so much more.”
What did Biden say in the State of the Union about increasing taxes on corporations and billionaires?
President Biden once again vowed to raise taxes on the wealthy and corporations so that they “finally pay their fair share.” It is part of his goal to “cut the federal deficit $3 trillion more” on top of the over one trillion in deficit reduction from the bipartisan budget deal he signed last year.
Corporations will have to begin paying a minimum tax of 15 percent on the adjusted financial statement income starting from the beginning of 2023 under the Inflation Reduction Act. However, Biden fells that still isn’t enough.
“That’s still less than working people pay in federal taxes,” he told the nation. “It’s time to raise the corporate minimum tax to at least 21 percent so every big corporation finally begins to pay their fair share.”
He also wants to “end tax breaks for Big Pharma, Big Oil, private jets and massive executive pay.”
As for billionaires, he said the 1,000 in America “are making great sacrifices” by paying an average federal tax of 8.2 percent. “That’s far less than the vast majority of Americans pay. No billionaire should pay a lower federal tax rate than a teacher, a sanitation worker or a nurse,” he explained to justify his plan.
“Look, I’m a capitalist. If you want to make, you can make a million or millions of bucks, that’s great,” Biden said. “Just pay your fair share in taxes.” Biden proposed that there be a minimum tax of 25 percent for the ultra-wealthy. He claims that it would raise $500 billion over the next 10 years.
“Imagine what that could do for America,” he posed to the nation. No longer would the investment be dependent on trickle-down economics but it would be possible that affordable child care could be made available so that “millions of families can get the care they need and still go to work and help grow the economy.”
“Imagine a future with paid leave because no one should have to choose between working and taking care of yourself or a sick family member,” he added. “Imagine a future with home care and elder care so seniors and people living with disabilities can stay in their homes and family caregivers get paid what they deserve!”