Biden says he's open to compromise with Republicans on $2 trillion infrastructure plan

Source: Washington Post

President Biden on Wednesday called for Republicans to negotiate with him on his $2 trillion infrastructure package but said inaction was unacceptable. “Debate is welcome,” he said at the White House. “Compromise is inevitable.” He said he will be “open to good ideas and good-faith negotiations.” He has so far not backed down on his planned corporate tax hikes amid bipartisan unease over his massive infrastructure proposal. The Department of Treasury on Wednesday outlined an aggressive set of tax increases on businesses to raise about $2.5 trillion over 15 years.

These changes, if approved by Congress, would be meant to offset the jobs and infrastructure package Biden wants to enact into law. In a 19-page report, Treasury officials called for more than a half-dozen tax measures affecting U.S. firms, including an increase in the corporate tax rate and subjecting the overseas earnings of businesses to higher tax rates. These tax proposals are likely to prove the most controversial element of Biden’s infrastructure legislation, and have already drawn criticism from both congressional Republicans and some Democrats.

Biden has defended the proposed tax hikes as necessary to pay for his more than $2 trillion jobs proposal, which would devote hundreds of billions of dollars to repairing America’s infrastructure and supporting clean energy technology, among myriad other measures. Unlike the $1.9 trillion stimulus plan that passed in March, the cost of which was almost entirely added to the national debt, the White House has said it will seek to pay for the infrastructure plan through tax hikes on businesses and corporations.

Fifty-five corporations saw zero federal tax liability in 2020, according to a report this week by Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-leaning think-tank. The amount of corporate tax revenue raised by the government has fallen from above 2 percent of U.S. Gross Domestic Product before the GOP tax law to half that, the Treasury report says. “Here you have 51 or 52 corporations of the Fortune 500 haven’t paid a single penny in taxes for three years. Come on, man. Let’s get real,” Biden said earlier this week, after walking off Marine One.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2021/04/07/yellen-corporate-tax-infrastructure/