President Joe Biden’s $ 2.25 trillion economic plan got into trouble Monday with a key Senate Democrat, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, calling for tax changes to secure his crucial support.
Manchin told a local news agency that he would not support raising the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28% as Biden suggested paying for higher infrastructure and social spending. Manchin said he would advocate closing tax loopholes that could benefit the rich and help increase the corporate rate to 25%, which he believes is the global average.
In 2017, Manchin proposed a corporate tax rate of 25% as an amendment to Republican tax law.
Photographer: Stefani Reynolds / Bloomberg
“Since the bill exists today, it must be changed,” said Manchin on Monday in the “Talkline” of the WVMetroNews radio. “This bill is not going to be in the form that you introduced it or that people are talking about.”
Given the expected united Republican opposition to Biden’s proposal, it will take Manchin’s Democrats, and that of all other Democrats and Independents, to get the 51 votes required to use a special budget process to pass tax increases.
“If I don’t vote for it, it’s going nowhere,” said Manchin. “It’s more than just me. There are six or seven other Democrats who do that feeling strong about it. We have to be competitive and we will not throw caution to the wind. “
“The whole thing has to change,” he said.
call it quits
Manchin said the bill can be split into three different bills in order to exist. Some Republicans have said they could support a smaller infrastructure-oriented move. He plans to continue working with a group of Democratic and Republican senators to work out a bipartisan bill, Manchin said.
Democrats also weigh on other aspects of the Biden economic plan. Also on Monday, three leading Senate Democrats released a proposal to revise the U.S. international tax system that could affect the outcome of the global tax reshuffle the White House is seeking to fund infrastructure spending.
Read more: Top Democrats float as an alternative to Biden’s corporate tax plan
Separately, Senate Minority Chairman Mitch McConnell reiterated his opposition to Biden’s plan, calling it another round of massive spending with tax hikes and more borrowing.
“If that’s the package, a lot more borrowed money and undoing the tax breaks that drove our economy to a 50-year high – I can’t imagine this will be very attractive to many Republicans,” McConnell said at a press conference in Kentucky.
McConnell said he was ready to discuss a smaller infrastructure package that was not paid for by the repeal of the 2017 tax bill and that did not add to the deficit.
He said he was against Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion virus relief package over deficit concerns. “Enough is enough,” said McConnell.
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