WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is proposing a $6 trillion budget next year that would greatly ramp up domestic spending and raise taxes on corporations and the wealthiest Americans.
Presidential budgets are crafted chiefly to be messaging documents, outlining priorities and making recommendations that Congress may take into consideration when drafting appropriation bills.
Biden’s first full budget recommendations includes sweeping new proposals he has already introduced, including trillions on infrastructure, free pre-K and community college, and increases to a range of domestic programs aimed at boosting public health and programs for the poor.
As Biden outlined on the campaign trail and as president, he would pay for the spending increases by raising taxes on corporations and the country’s highest earners. But even with higher taxes, his proposed budget would run a $1.8 trillion deficit in 2022. Officials reiterated that Biden would not impose new taxes on individuals making below $400,000.
April 10, 202101:57
“The Budget invests directly in the American people and will strengthen our Nation’s economy and improve our long-run fiscal health,” Biden said in a letter to Congress accompanying the proposal. “It reforms our broken tax code to reward work instead of wealth, while also fully paying for the American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan over 15 years. It will help us build a recovery that is broad-based, inclusive, sustained, and strong.”
On a call with reporters, White House officials said their proposal, if enacted, would contribute to a speedy jobs recovery, arguing unemployment would fall to 4.7 percent by the end of 2021.
Administration officials have projected there will be rising inflation, but only in the short term.
White House officials portrayed the budget as a front-loaded spending plan designed to take advantage of low interest rates with major investments in areas like infrastructure, climate, education, and scientific research now, and reduce deficits later on via higher taxes.
For Republicans, the budget will provide them ammunition to their case that Biden is a tax-and-spend Democrat who doesn’t care about debts and deficits.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki defended the budget Thursday, saying Biden inherited a deficit from the Trump administration and that the spending is needed to help the economy recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
