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US-ECONOMY-POLITICS-TAXATION-EMPLOYMENT
Biden offers to drop corporate tax hike to fund spending: report
WASHINGTON, June 4, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – In an effort to win Republican support for his infrastructure proposal, US President Joe Biden has offered to drop a corporate tax increase but impose a 15 percent minimum tax, US media reported Thursday.
Citing sources familiar with the discussions, The Washington Post reported the offer was made in a private White House meeting with Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito as the president looks for opposition support for his spending plans.
To finance his infrastructure plan, Biden had proposed returning the top corporate tax rate to 28 percent — where it had been before a Republican-backed tax cut in 2017 — from its current 21 percent level, something the opposition party strenuously opposes.
His revised plan offers $1 trillion in spending financed through the new minimum tax that would target corporations which are profitable but pay little in taxes to the federal government, according to the report.
“The president hosted Senator Capito for a constructive and frank conversation in the Oval Office about how we can drive economic growth and benefit America’s middle class through investing in our infrastructure. The two agreed to reconnect on Friday,” the White House said in a statement following their Wednesday meeting.
Biden has long stressed that corporations need to “pay their fair share” and vowed not to raise taxes on Americans making less than $400,000 a year. The US leader, who campaigned on his ability to work with Republicans, has proposed a more than $2 trillion plan to create jobs through investments in roads and bridges while also funding green technology, expanding broadband internet access and daycare, and fixing household water supplies.
However, Republicans are pushing for a smaller and more narrowly-focused bill limited to traditional public works projects.
Capito’s staff did not respond to a request for comment from AFP.
Biden is also backing a 15 percent minimum corporate tax imposed globally to prevent multinationals from sheltering profits in low-tax countries.
BSS/AFP/MMA/1010HRS