White House Pitches Tax Hikes On Private Jets, Corporate Pay And Stock Buybacks

WASHINGTON ― Joe Biden would like to remind you that he favors higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy ― and on their fancy jets, too.

The president will make tax hikes on corporations and the wealthy a core part of his economic agenda, the White House said Thursday ahead of the final State of the Union Address of Biden’s first term.

“President Biden is fighting to make our tax code reward work, not wealth,” White House economic adviser Lael Brainard told reporters on a conference call previewing the speech.

A fact sheet from the White House says Biden wants to raise the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%, to take away an unspecified tax deduction for firms that pay executives more than $1 million, to eliminate preferential tax treatment for corporate jets and to increase a fuel tax on both corporate and private jet travel.

Higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy are broadly popular ― and a clear economic policy difference between Democrats and Republicans that Biden will emphasize during his speech at the Capitol.

The U.S. faces a crossroads in tax policy when household cuts enacted by former President Donald Trump in 2017 expire at the end of next year. If Congress does nothing, then almost everybody’s taxes will go up.

Republicans want to extend all of the tax cuts, having only made them temporary as a budget gimmick that reduced the cost of their tax legislation in budget forecasts. On paper, the law was projected to add nearly $2 trillion to the deficit over 10 years. A full extension would cost more than $3 trillion.

Biden opposes any tax hikes on households earning less than $400,000, the White House said, repeating a tax pledge Biden campaigned on in 2020.

“President Biden supports continuing tax