Biden’s new budget plan to hike taxes on ultra-rich, boost military spending
US President Joe Biden has sent a $5.79 trillion budget plan to Congress that calls for billions of dollars in new military spending while raising taxes for the wealthiest Americans and big companies.
The proposal for the 2023 fiscal year, submitted to Congress on Monday, boasts a reduction in the federal budget deficit of more than $1 trillion over the next 10 years.
It lays out the administration’s fiscal priorities, including President Biden’s campaign promise of increasing taxes for the billionaires and corporations to slash the deficit.
Biden is requesting $813.3 billion in defense spending, an increase of $31 billion, or 4 percent, from the current fiscal year.
In a statement, the US president said he was requesting more money to strengthen the US military and "forcefully respond to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s aggression against Ukraine with $1 billion in additional US support for Ukraine’s economic, humanitarian, and security needs."
The new budget would see corporate tax rate increase from 21 percent to 28 percent, a rate favored by the progressive wing of the Democratic Party but opposed by many of the more moderate voices.
The plan is based on economic assumptions made in November, well before Russia sent troops into Ukraine, a development that has slowed the global economy and sent energy and food prices soaring.
Biden's top economic adviser Cecilia Rouse said the administration hopes the inflation ease over the coming year.
Biden is planning to ask lawmakers to help his administration tackle some of the biggest challenges he faces at home, including the soaring inflation.
"The budget I am releasing today sends a clear message that we value fiscal responsibility, safety and security at home and around the world, and the investments needed to continue our equitable growth and build a better America," the president said.
In addition, a senior administration official said that the president’s budget would propose policies “that will reduce energy, health care, child care and other costs for families.”
Overall the new budget will take the focus away from COVID-19 by eliminating emergency pandemic or supplemental funds. Instead, it focuses on the need to tackle crime and public safety.
But the plan is merely a wish list as members of Congress make the final decisions on budget matters.
The budget will serve as a spending blueprint for Democrats, who hold slim majorities in both the House and Senate but face multiple hurdles going into the midterm elections.
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