WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats are unveiling a new billionaires’ tax proposal to help pay for President Joe Biden’s sweeping domestic policy package.
The “Corporate Profits Minimum Tax” was announced Wednesday by Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Angus King of Maine, and Ron Wyden of Oregon. The senators say they’ll include the proposal as a “pay-for” in Biden’s Build Back Better plan.
The proposed tax would be on the gains of those with more than $1 billion in assets or incomes of more than $100 million a year. And the tax could begin to shore up the big social services and climate change plan Biden is racing to finish this week.
Sen. Warren said in a press release that the proposal would create a 15% minimum tax on the profits of roughly 200 companies that report more than $1 billion in profits to their shareholders.
Warren said the new tax plan would preserve the value of business credits – including R&D, clean energy, and housing tax credits – and include some flexibilities for companies to carry forward losses, utilize foreign tax credits, and claim a minimum tax credit against regular tax in future years.
Warren noted that the plan would raise hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue over the 10 years.
To pass this proposal, Biden needs to win over key Democrats, including Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who had rejected earlier tax plans.
Biden says his package will be fully paid for and won't raise taxes on anyone earning less than $400,000 a year.
