by Jake Dima
President-elect Joe Biden in a Wednesday interview said “there’s no reason why” his administration shouldn’t raise both corporate and individual income taxes to levels maintained during former president George Bush’s administration.
Biden insisted “everybody pairs their fair share” in taxes during his presidency, and suggested a nearly 40% rate for those in the top bracket, which he said was commonplace during the Bush era, in an interview with the New York Times.
“And by that fair share, I mean there’s no reason why the top tax rate shouldn’t be 39.6 percent, which it was in the beginning of the Bush administration,” he said in the Times interview. “There’s no reason why 91 Fortune 500 companies should be paying zero in taxes.”
In the early 2000s, the nation’s highest tax bracket was 39.6% for citizens earning more than $374,000 per year, according to Fox Business. Bush then slashed the rate to 35% until former president Barack Obama reset the benchmark at 39.6% following the 2008 financial crisis, Fox reported.
President Donald Trump cut down corporate taxes to 21% and the individual tax rate to 37% in 2017 shortly after assuming office, according to Fox.
Biden’s ability to implement his tax reform may be hindered by the outcome of the Georgia Senate runoff elections if Republicans are able to retain control. However, the former vice president said he would be able to pass his agenda even if Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell resists.
“Let me put it this way,” Biden said in the Times interview. “There are a number of things that when McConnell controlled the Senate that people said couldn’t get done, and I was able to get them done with [him]. I was able to get them to, you know, raise taxes on the wealthy.”
Biden throughout his campaign pledged to increase the tax burden of those “making over $400,000” a year.
“I will raise taxes for anybody making over $400,000,” Biden said, according to Fox. “Let me tell you why I’m going to do it. It’s about time they start paying a fair share of the economic responsibility we have. The very wealthy should pay a fair share – corporations should pay a fair share.”
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Jake Dima is a reporter for the Daily Caller News Foundation.
