WASHINGTON – Senate democratic control gives President-elect Joe Biden a much stronger chance of raising taxes on high-income corporations and families.
Until the second round of elections in Georgia this week, Biden’s plans for tax increases faced strong opposition from the Republican-controlled Senate. But now, Democrats will occupy the White House, the Senate and the House simultaneously for the first time in more than a decade, and they are ready to use that power.
During his presidential campaign, Biden proposed raising taxes on high-income corporations, properties and families, reversing important parts of the Republican-approved 2017 tax cuts and re-enforcing policies that the Obama administration failed to pass in Congress. Democrats spent time between the November election and this week’s second round looking at bipartisan commitments and examining what the government could do unilaterally.
Now, some of Biden’s ideas are much more likely to become law, said Steve Wamhoff, of the progressive Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy, who said that the President-elect’s plans are less comprehensive than some Democratic alternatives and are widely popular with the public.
“The question has always been: could the Democrats put something on the ground? And the answer now is clearly ‘yes’, ”said Wamhoff. “Biden won after campaigning to raise corporate taxes and raise taxes on the rich.”