Biden Will Call for Billionaire Tax, Bigger Levy on Stock Buybacks in State of the Union
Bloomberg
2/6/2023
© Photographer: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - FEBRUARY 03: U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during the Democratic National Committee winter meeting on February 03, 2023 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Earlier in the day President Biden and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris visited a water treatment plant in the city where they announced $160 million to upgrade Philadelphia water facilities and replace 20 miles of lead service lines. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden will call for quadrupling the levy on corporate stock buybacks and renew his calls for a minimum tax on billionaires during his State of the Union address Tuesday.
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“This minimum tax would make sure that the wealthiest Americans no longer pay a tax rate lower than teachers and firefighters,” the White House said in a preview Monday of the economic aspects of Biden’s speech.
Neither of the tax proposals is likely to gain much support in Congress, where Republicans now control the US House.
Read more: Buyback Tax at 1% Is Too Small to Matter as CEOs Reward Holders
The 1% stock buyback tax that was part of Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act went into effect at the start of this year, but it isn’t expected to tamp down corporations’ plans to repurchase their own shares, because the 1% rate is too low to act as a deterrent.
Democrats had hoped that increasing the cost of stock buybacks would prod companies to use their cash on hand to raise workers’ wages or invest in new endeavors, bolstering the economy.
Biden will also announce efforts to make certain that construction materials for projects funded by his infrastructure investment law are made in the US. The administration is issuing proposed guidance “to ensure construction materials from copper and aluminum to fiber optic, cable, lumber, and drywall, are made in America,” according to a White House fact sheet.
The president will recap his efforts over his first two years in office to help the US economy recover from the pandemic, reduce the federal deficit and bring down inflation that last year hit a four-decade high.
Biden also will call for expanding a $35-a-month price cap on insulin that he championed to all Americans, not just Medicare recipients.
--With assistance from Laura Davison.
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