The White House on Thursday signaled that it was willing to negotiate over US President Joe Biden’s pledge to increase the corporate tax rate.
Biden offered to drop his proposal to return the top corporate tax rate to 28 percent — where it had been before a tax cut in 2017 — from its current 21 percent level, the Washington Post reported.
Citing sources familiar with the discussions, the newspaper said that the offer was made in a private White House meeting on Wednesday with US Senator Shelley Moore Capito as the president looks for opposition support for his spending plans.
Photo: Reuters
However, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that Biden has not entirely give up on the corporate tax increase, which he sees as “a viable pay-for.”
“Those pay-fors can be moved around,” Psaki said, signaling that there could be some flexibility in the negotiations.
“We have a range of means for moving the president’s ideas and proposals forward,” she said, adding that Biden was scheduled to talk to Capito again yesterday.
“The president remains committed to his goal of signing a bill into law ... by the summer,” she said.
However, Biden would instead focus on a 15 percent minimum tax that would target corporations that are profitable, but pay little in taxes to the federal government, the Washington Post reported.
Biden has long stressed that corporations need to “pay their fair share” and vowed not to raise taxes on Americans making less than US$400,000 a year.
Both corporate tax measures were included in his budget blueprint presented last week, which showed increasing the top tax rate would bring in at least US$86 billion starting in 2023, while a minimum tax would raise US$10 billion to US$15 billion a year.
Biden, who campaigned on his ability to work with Republicans, has proposed a more than US$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.
Psaki rejected the counteroffer to pay for some of the spending through increased fees.
“We’re not going to go down the road of user fees or other areas that would raise taxes on the American people,” she said.
Capito’s staff did not respond to a request for comment.
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