Republicans criticize administration’s proposal for ‘massive tax increases’
The Biden administration is committed to raising taxes for wealthy Americans as President Joe Biden is slated to propose his budget on March 9, according to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
Speaking to reporters on March 8, Jean-Pierre said Biden’s budget is aimed at cutting the federal deficit by $3 trillion over the next decade and noted that it would propose “tax reforms to ensure the wealthy and large corporations pay their fair share while cutting wasteful spending on special interests like Big Oil and Big Pharma.”
She also criticized the Trump administration’s focus on tax cuts by putting forward “a really irresponsible piece of legislation that gave tax breaks to the wealthy, especially millionaires and billionaires.”
“That is something that we have had to deal with, and we really have to call out,” Jean-Pierre said.
The press secretary was likely referring to the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act, which slashed taxes for individuals and businesses, increased the standard deduction and family tax credits, reduced the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate penalty to zero, and cut corporate rates to 21 percent. Some congressional Republicans have said that they want to keep those cuts.
During the press briefing, Jean-Pierre didn’t go into specifics about Biden’s proposed budget. However, she said the budget is designed to “[make] the wealthy and big corporations pay their fair share.”
Her comments came in response to questions about the proposal that Biden unveiled on March 7 that would increase the Medicare tax rate to 5 percent from 3.8 percent for households that earn $400,000 or more each year. That tax increase would apply to both “earned and unearned income” that totals more than $400,000.
“Since Medicare was passed, income and wealth inequality in the United States have increased dramatically. By asking those with the highest incomes to contribute modestly more, we can keep the Medicare program strong for decades to come,” the White House stated on March 7.
