Will Congress Tax the Rich to Finance Build Back Better?
The jockeying over how much money the budget resolution will eventually spend and invest for President Biden’s Build Back Better program has gotten most of the attention. It’s obvious that the final number will be well below Biden’s proposed $3.5 trillion.
But equally important is the tax side of the equation, both to pay for the needed public investments and to make the wealthy pay a fairer share, as a needed policy in its own right. Two key players are the House Ways and Means chair, Richie Neal of Massachusetts, one of the most corporate Democrats in the House; and his Senate counterpart, Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden of Oregon, a liberal on some issues who also delivers for multinational corporations and banks.
The story of Biden’s proposed tax reforms sadly parallels the story of his proposed investments. A boldly progressive plan keeps getting watered down as it runs the gauntlet of the tax-writing committees.
Biden’s original tax proposal would raise about $3.3 trillion over the ten-year budget window, just short of fully paying for the $3.5 trillion in new investments. Not all of this officially appears in the CBO’s budget score, since some $700 billion is projected to come from increased IRS enforcement of the tax evasion of the rich.
Read more: https://prospect.org/infrastructure/building-back-america/will-congress-tax-the-rich-to-finance-build-back-better/
(American Prospect)
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