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President Joe Biden will ask billionaires to pay more taxes during his State of the Union address and will require companies to pay a quadrupled tax on share buybacks, two proposals that are unlikely to pass a divided Congress.
In his second State of the Union, and the first of the newly divided legislature, Biden intends to emphasize the lowest unemployment in 50 years, post-pandemic recovery, and passage of bills to address climate change and improve infrastructure.
It also intends to renew calls for the richest to pay more taxes.
‘President Biden is a capitalist and believes that anyone should be able to become a millionaire or billionaire. He also believes that it is wrong for the United States to have a tax code that results in America’s wealthiest households paying a lower tax rate than working families,’ the White House said Monday, in a preview of economic plans that will be outlined in the speech. .
Joe Biden is seen on March 1, 2022 delivering last year’s State of the Union
Biden to highlight lowest unemployment rate since the 1970s
The administration said most billionaires pay a tax rate of eight percent, lower than the vast majority of Americans, thanks to clever use of loopholes.
“This minimum tax would ensure that the wealthiest Americans no longer pay a lower tax rate than teachers and firefighters,” the White House said.
And he will try to convince Americans to support his plan to raise corporate taxes.
The Inflation Reduction Act, which Biden signed into law in August, imposed a 1 percent tax on buybacks, a measure by which a public company uses cash to buy shares of its own capital on the open market.
When a company buys its own shares, it is helping to increase its share price by driving demand, thereby creating value for all shareholders.
Biden would like to increase the tax on buybacks.
Biden is seen in March 2022, delivering his first full State of the Union
Biden is seen outside the White House Monday as he and his team finalize the text of Tuesday’s speech.
“Share buybacks allow corporations to funnel tax-advantaged payments to wealthy and foreign investors, rather than paying dividends on which shareholders must pay taxes,” the White House fact sheet said.
“Last year, oil and gas companies made record profits and invested very little in domestic production and to keep gas prices low; instead, they bought their own shares and gave all those profits to their CEOs and shareholders.” .
Biden will argue that his plan will encourage companies “to invest in their growth and productivity instead of paying corporate executives or funneling tax preference profits to foreign shareholders.”
Neither plan is likely to gain momentum in the Republican-controlled House.
Biden on Monday tweeted a photo of a folder containing his notes for the speech, captioned: “Getting ready.”
He continued with a series of tweets giving clues about the topics he intends to cover.
“For too long, employers have denied working pregnant women and new moms basic dignities like going to the bathroom or taking a seat. You can imagine?’ she tweeted herself.
‘I promised to address this, and I kept that promise by enacting the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.’
Biden continued: ‘The last time the unemployment rate was this low, we hadn’t set foot on the moon yet. Think about it.
‘Together, we are building an America where everyone has a fair chance.’
He added: ‘Two years after taking office, we have come a long way.
“We have more than regained all the jobs lost in the pandemic, and the number of unemployed Americans is close to its lowest in decades.”
Republican politicians, however, told DailyMail.com they want the commander-in-chief to commit to reining in federal spending and be ‘truthful’ with Americans about current threats to America’s national security.
Biden’s speech is likely to already be overshadowed by the recent diplomatic incident caused by an alleged Chinese ‘spy balloon’ hovering over several US states at an altitude low enough to be seen with the naked eye, alarming to millions across the country.
Multiple Republicans have told DailyMail.com that it will have to address the drama.
House Republicans who shared what they want to hear from Biden include Armed Services Committee member and former Green Beret Mike Waltz (left) and Republican Study Committee Chairman Kevin Hern (right)
South Dakota Rep. Dusty Johnson, a member of the Select Committee on China, said Americans deserve answers about what happened to the alleged Chinese spy device last week.
China hawks like Florida Congressman Mike Waltz and South Dakota’s Dusty Johnson are demanding that Biden give Americans answers about what happened regarding China’s alleged surveillance device.
Waltz also called on Biden to address the crisis on the southern border, an issue that has been a drag on the White House for much of his tenure.
“This Chinese spy balloon was a wake-up call and I think a Sputnik moment for the country,” Waltz told DailyMail.com, referencing the infamous Soviet satellite that epitomized the 20th century space race.
“President Biden must be honest with the American people that the Chinese Communist Party is in a Cold War with the United States and this must become a priority for our country.”
Johnson, a member of the House Select Committee on China, shared a similar call for accountability Tuesday night.
“President Biden should absolutely use this moment to express to the American people what has happened in the world,” he told DailyMail.com.
Authorities said the first spy balloon to travel across the US went down six miles off the coast of South Carolina in water about 47 feet deep. They noted that a suitable salvage vessel will not be on the scene for days as the race is on to secure the wreckage.
Waltz also said that Biden “needs to be upfront about the threat of our open southern border.”
Biden made his first border visit as president last month amid mounting pressure from federal, state and local authorities.
He did not appear to encounter any migrants during the brief journey.
Kevin Hern, congressman from Oklahoma and chairman of the Republican Study Committee, said the president’s speech will come a day after he missed a legal deadline to submit a budget proposal to Congress for the next fiscal year.
‘February 6 is the deadline for Biden’s budget request, and he will come to speak before Congress the next day. With no budget, what do you have to present to us?’ he asked.
‘Americans have made it clear that they are fed up with spending; they know what the Biden Administration refuses to admit, that every dollar Biden spends comes from American taxpayers.
“Anything short of a full commitment to cut spending and balance the budget is a failure of this president’s leadership.”
The White House and House Republicans are deadlocked on how to move forward by raising the debt limit to avoid a massive national default.
The Conservatives have made it clear that they will not allow a clean increase without offsetting it with future spending cuts.
But Democrats are adamant that the debt ceiling is an ‘obligation’ of the US government rather than a bargaining point.
At last week’s regular CSR luncheon, Hern unveiled a set of proposals to cut discretionary spending and promote “targeted, paid, growth-friendly fiscal policies,” among others.
The set of proposals, obtained by DailyMail.com, also includes calls to enact “anti-inflationary reforms to increase national energy capacity and reduce associated permitting and regulatory barriers.”
Hern’s plan would also simplify “duplicate programs” and try to prevent another similar crisis by codifying “procedures to ensure that the federal government meets certain critical obligations” such as debt payments, veteran care, Social Security and Medicare.