President Biden will propose tax increases to pay for more than $3 trillion in new spending on infrastructure and health care, but he’s open to more borrowing, too, the White House said on Monday.
“The president has a plan to fix our infrastructure and a plan to pay for it,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki. “But we are also open to having a discussion [about funding], and we certainly expect to have a discussion with members of Congress moving forward.”
She said of Congress, “If they don’t want to pay for it, I guess they could propose that, too.”
Mr. Biden will travel to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday to announce the first phase of his plan, devoted to rebuilding roads, bridges and mass transit.
The president is eyeing tax increases for people making over $400,000 and for businesses.
He has advocated for increasing the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21% to help come up with the trillions of dollars needed to pay for his economic agenda.
Pressed on whether increasing taxes on businesses could become a drag on the economy, Ms. Psaki signaled the administration is convinced the good that will come from the tax hike would outweigh the bad.
“We haven’t seen evidence in that from economists, but if they have alternative proposals for how to pay for investing in our nation’s infrastructure, rebuilding our roads and our railways and putting Americans back to work we are happy to hear it,” she said.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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