White House press secretary Jen Psaki clarified on Wednesday that President Biden’s proposed tax increase would apply to people who earn $ 200,000 a year if they are married to someone who earns that amount.
Psaki said at his daily news conference that the proposed $ 400,000 limit for tax increases applies to “families” and not individuals.
The clarification significantly reduces the limit on tax increases announced by Biden in an ABC News interview that aired on Wednesday.
Biden’s interview statement seemed to indicate that the cut would be $ 400,000 in individual income.
“Yes, anyone who earns more than $ 400,000 will see a tax increase from small to significant,” Biden told George Stephanopoulos.
Biden added, “If you earn less than $ 400,000, you won’t see a single cent in additional federal tax.”
The president acknowledged that an effort to raise taxes is almost certain to encounter uniform opposition from Republicans in Congress.
“I may not be able to [Republican support], but I will get the Democratic votes for a tax hike. If we just took the tax rate back to what it was when [George W.] Bush was president – [when] the highest rate paid 39.6% in federal taxes – that would raise $ 230 billion. However, are they complaining because I am providing a tax credit for childcare for the poor, middle class? “Biden said.
Democrats hold a small majority in the House of Representatives and also control of the Senate divided equally because Vice President Kamala Harris breaks ties in favor of Democrats.
Senate Democrat No. 2, Dick Durbin, of Illinois, this week called for an end to the 60-vote limit for voting on most bills, calling procedural obstruction a “weapon of mass obstruction.”
Biden said in the interview with ABC News that he would like to reform the obstruction so that senators speak at length in the Senate plenary to delay the bills.
Democrats passed the first major part of Biden’s legislation – a $ 1.9 billion COVID-19 stimulus package – with no Republican vote in the House or Senate, using a special budgetary reconciliation process that allowed an absolute majority in the Senate.