House Republicans opposed President Biden’s plan to raise taxes on the ultrawealthy, in line with his equity agenda to level the economic playing field.
Majority Leader Steve Scalise accused Mr. Biden of viewing individual Americans as opportunities to raise taxes on, zeroing in on his push to add 87,000 Internal Revenue Service workers in the next decade.
Republicans passed a bill to halt that funding for the workers as one of their first actions in Congress last month after taking the majority.
“They pretty much got one IRS agent dedicated to each billionaire in America, so they’re already paying their taxes,” Mr. Scalise told reporters. “In fact, they’ve got teams of attorneys and accountants to figure out the tax code in America. What President Biden wants to do is go after people making under 200,000, under 100,000 dollars.”
Mr. Biden first proposed a minimum tax on the country’s wealthiest residents last year, but the proposal was unable to pass in the final negotiations in a Democrat-led climate and tax bill.
The president is expected to address his push for a billionaire tax program in his State of the Union address tonight.
“President Biden is a capitalist and believes that anyone should be able to become a millionaire or a billionaire. He also believes that it is wrong for America to have a tax code that results in America’s wealthiest households paying a lower tax rate than working families,” the administration said in a fact sheet, adding that billionaires pay an average tax rate of 8%.
The White House said the new tax plan would reach only 0.01% of U.S. households.
Democrats have long pushed for a wealth tax on the richest Americans, trying to contrast themselves with former President Donald Trump’s tax cuts.
Democrats have argued Mr. Trump’s tax cuts helped only the wealthiest citizens.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
• Mica Soellner can be reached at msoellner@washingtontimes.com.
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