R&I – FS
A “Billionaire Minimum Income Tax” is included in President Joe Biden’s fiscal year 2023 budget proposal — part of the administration’s effort to reduce the federal deficit over the next decade and fund new spending. The proposal “eliminates the inefficient sheltering of income for decades or generations,” the White House says.
During a press conference highlighting the budget on Monday, Biden said one-hundredth of 1% of Americans would be subject to the tax. “The billionaire minimum tax is fair, and it raises $360 billion that can be used to lower costs for families and cut the deficit,” he said.
Whether Congress will approve is a major question as the administration outlines its hope to tax the nation’s highest earners.
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The budget proposes that households worth more than $100 million pay at least 20% in taxes on both income and “unrealized gains”— the increase in an unsold investment’s value. For many wealthy individuals, the administration says, that “true income” never gets taxed since it can be held onto for decades and sometimes generations.
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IS CONGRESS LIKELY TO APPROVE THIS MEASURE?
Donald Williamson, an accounting and taxation professor at American University in Washington, said “a couple of years ago, I would’ve laughed out loud. Today it’s conceivable.”
The highest likelihood is through “reconciliation” — a budget process for passing fiscal legislation with a simple majority of Senate votes.
That will require buy-in from West Virginia Sen. Joe Machin and Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who have each objected to proposals to tax the ultra-wealthy in the past.
FoundingFrog
Article URL : https://apnews.com/article/billionaire-income-tax-biden-budget-bed3de13ae69f37469a51b871758cf18