With the COVID relief bill passed, President Joe Biden's next major economic move will include tax hikes on Americans making more than $400,000 per year.
"Anybody making more than $400,000 will see a small to a significant tax increase. If you make less than $400,000, you won't see one single penny in additional federal tax," Biden told ABC News in an interview that aired Wednesday morning.
Bloomberg reports it would be the first major federal tax increase since President Bill Clinton in 1993.
NBC News and Bloomberg, citing White House officials, indicate the proposals would fall in line with promises Biden made during the campaign. Those proposals, per NBC, included:
- Restoring the top individual income tax rate to 39.6%, something Biden told ABC News would raise $230 billion.
- Increasing the corporate tax rate to 28% after Trump lowered it from 35% to 21%.
- Taxing investment income for millionaires at the top income tax rate.
- Taxes and penalties on U.S. companies that receive foreign earnings or shift jobs overseas.
- A 15% tax for large companies that pay little to no tax, such as Amazon.
- Tax credits for caregivers and first-time homebuyers.
The president admitted he likely would not get any Republican votes for the tax increase, but said he'd get Democrats on board. In three votes in Congress -- twice in the House and once in the Senate -- no Republicans voted in favor of the American Rescue Plan.
With Biden unlikely to get 60 votes in the Senate, it's probable that his tax increase would have to pass via budget reconciliation. That's the same method by which the American Rescue Plan was passed with its $1,400 stimulus checks, extended unemployment funds and an increased child tax credit.
NBC News reports the tax hikes are expected to help fund an infrastructure bill Democrats are working on.
Republicans reportedly fear the tax hikes would cause businesses to move overseas.