How Will The U.S. Government Try To Pay For An Infrastructure Package?

U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to introduce a $3 trillion infrastructure package this week. As part of the legislation, lawmakers are likely to consider several tax increases in order to pay for it.

According to multiple news sources, the Biden administration is considering plans to raise the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent, increase in the top individual tax rate from 37 percent to 39.76 percent, and raise the global minimum tax paid to 21 percent from about 13 percent.

That’s not all.

As The Hill reported last week, some lawmakers on Capitol Hill want to go far beyond what the White House has proposed. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), for example, offered a plan last week that would increase the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 35 percent (well above the 28 percent level President Biden has proposed); add stricter measures for taxing offshore profits; and put in a more stringent estate tax by lowering the threshold for when an estate would be hit with the tax from $11 million to $3.5 million for individuals and from $22 million to $7 million for couples.

Read more about Sen. Sanders’ proposed tax legislation here.

According to Politico, other tax increases on the table include:

• Elizabeth Warren’s (D-Mass.) plan to impose a two percent tax on individuals who have a net worth higher than $50 million;
• Bill Pascrell’s (D-N.J.) plan to eliminate the preferential tax treatment of carried interest; and
• Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse’s (D-R.I.) plan to eliminate COVID-19 tax relief for some businesses and eliminate the use of offshore tax havens.