US President Joe Biden presented his budget proposal this Thursday, which is unlikely to be passed by Congress, especially due to the strong increase in taxes on the richest.
One proposal that could make it difficult for a Republican majority in the House of Representatives to pass is to impose a tax of at least 25% on the richest 0.01% of Americans.
The White House calls it the “billionaire minimum tax,” and the idea is to help increase tax revenue at the expense of the richest to keep labor incomes.
At the same time, large multinational companies with income in foreign countries will now pay 21% in taxes against the 10.5% they have paid so far.
The government estimates that these measures could increase tax revenues by about $5 billion (about 4.7 billion euros), contributing to the goal of reducing the budget deficit by about $3 billion (about 2.8 billion euros).
Biden also wants to end tax breaks introduced by his predecessor, Donald Trump; for example, people who earn more than $400,000 (about €380,000) a year will never pay more than 39.6% in tax.
On the military side, the budget provides for an increase in spending that the Biden administration has already justified in the face of global threats, in particular because of the ambitions of China, considered the great rival of the United States.
The Pentagon is currently receiving US$842 billion (about €800 billion) to modernize its nuclear arsenal, and a 5.2% increase in military salaries is being proposed.
Still considering the risks China poses in the Pacific, the budget provides around $7 billion (about 6.4 billion euros) for military agreements with the three island nations in the region.
In healthcare, Biden proposes to help fund Medicare by negotiating the cost of prescription drugs and increasing the participation of people with higher incomes from 3.8% to 5%.
The budget also includes more than $7 billion (about 6.6 billion euros) in aid for refugees, including unaccompanied children, and the same amount in an emergency fund to address the problem more broadly.
The budget, unveiled this Thursday, also fulfills Biden’s campaign pledge to increase investment in cancer research by earmarking $2.8 billion (about 2.6 billion euros) for the purpose.
President Biden will be speaking from Philadelphia in a few hours, but the Republican Party’s reaction has already been heard and suggests a rejection of this budget.
Republican Congressman Jody Arrington, chairman of the House Budget Committee, criticized the document, saying it was “more of the same, more of the same bloated bureaucracy at the expense of working families.”
Also, House Republican Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said the budget was “not serious,” accusing Biden of “proposing billions in taxes families will have to pay.”
“Washington has a spending problem. He has no problems with income,” McCarthy wrote on his Twitter account.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
I am Michael Melvin, an experienced news writer with a passion for uncovering stories and bringing them to the public. I have been working in the news industry for over five years now, and my work has been published on multiple websites. As an author at 24 News Reporters, I cover world section of current events stories that are both informative and captivating to read.