President Biden will travel to Pennsylvania to unveil his 2024 budget proposal which aims to reduced the Federal deficit by $3 trillion over 10 years, a clear challenge to Republican efforts to hold the debt ceiling hostage to budget decisions. The Republicans have not disclosed any plans of their own for 2024 budget plan. The Associated Press reports that the Biden proposed budget is a populist approach which calls for hiking taxes on the very wealthy, publically-traded companies and hedge funds:
"Biden wants to impose tax hikes on the wealthy to limit federal borrowing, including a reversal of the 2017 tax cuts made by then President Donald Trump on people earning above $400,000. The added revenues would help to improve Medicare, the government health insurance program for adults over 65.
In the run-up to the plan’s release, Biden has floated a new tax on incomes above $100 million that would target billionaires. He’s called for lower prescription drug prices. The tax that companies pay on stock buybacks would be quadrupled, and those earning above $400,000 would pay an additional Medicare tax that would help to keep the program solvent beyond the year 2050.
Biden’s budget would seek to close the 'carried interest' loophole that allows wealthy hedge fund managers and others to pay their taxes at a lower rate, and prevent billionaires from being able to set aside large amounts of their holdings in tax-favored retirement accounts, according to an administration official. The plan also projects saving $24 billion over 10 years by removing a tax subsidy for cryptocurrency transactions." (our emphasis)
The Republicans in the House and Senate will reject any tax increases on their wealthy donors, so the focus has to be on convincing the general public that the proposed tax increases on top incomes and corporations correct the wrong done by the Malignant Loser with his 2017 tax cuts for the wealthy and corporate interests, which exploded the Federal deficit. The taxes the top earners and corporations will pay will eliminate the need for higher taxes on middle and working class families. Some of the other aspects of the proposal include:
— Expand the ability of Medicare to negotiate on pharmaceutical drug prices, saving an estimated $160 billion over a decade.
— Auction off rights to the radio spectrum, generating $50 billion.
— Take new steps to reduce identity theft and unemployment insurance fraud.
— Target insurance companies that overcharge Medicaid, with anticipated savings of $20 billion through repayments to the government.
— End subsidies valued at $31 billion for oil and gas companies.
— Scrap a $19 billion tax break for real estate investors.
As in most years, the battle of the budget will be one of asking the taxpayers to put pressure on their Representatives and Senators to enact a fair and forward looking budget that requires the wealthiest to pay their fair share in taxes.
