President Joe Biden’s 2023 federal budget introduces “Billionaire’s Minimum Tax”

President Joe Biden’s 2023 federal budget introduces “Billionaire’s Minimum Tax”.

The request to Congress includes a new “Billionaire’s Minimum Tax,” which would impose a 20% income tax rate on the top 0.01 percent of earnings and families worth more than $100 million.

President Joe Biden’s 2023 federal budget, revealed on Monday, proposes tax increases on the ultra-wealthy and companies, as well as billions of dollars in increased expenditure for the Defense and Justice departments.

The proposal provided to Congress calls for a more than $1 trillion decrease in the federal budget deficit over the next ten years. This is partially paid for by boosting the corporation tax rate from 21% to 28%, a figure advocated by progressive Democrats but opposed by crucial moderates.

Biden also recommends a new 20% minimum tax on the top 0.1% of income and households with more over $100 million in assets.

Overall, the fiscal year 2023 budget turns the focus away from the pandemic, which has abated following the major omicron wave late last year. Notably, no emergency pandemic or supplementary money are being sought.

Key spending items:

• Approximately $31 billion in new defense spending, which will bring total national defense spending up to $813 billion.
• As part of that defense spending, $6.9 billion is directed to NATO, European defense, Ukraine and countering Russian aggression, according to the White House.
• More than $32 billion in spending to fight crime at home, including more than $20.6 billion at the Justice Department and another $3.2 billion for state and local law enforcement grants and for hiring police officers.
• Roughly $10.6 billion for global health security, which includes Covid as well as future pandemics.

Key revenue raisers:

• Raise the corporate tax rate from its current rate of 21% to 28%.
• Raise the top individual tax bracket to 39.6%.
• Impose a 20% minimum tax on the top 0.01% of earners and households worth more than $100 million, the so-called the Billionaire Minimum Tax.
• Repeal several tax breaks for oil and gas producers and processors.
• Tax carried interest as regular income, closing the so-called carried interest loophole.
• End tax deferrals on the gains from like-kind exchanges.