President Biden reveals plan to increase corporate taxes

The Biden government on Wednesday announced its plan to revise its corporate income tax and made a series of proposals that would require large corporations to pay higher taxes to fund the White House’s economic agenda.

If the plan went into effect, it would generate revenues of $ 2.5 trillion over 15 years. This would lead American companies, who have long had quirks in the tax laws that allowed them to lower or eliminate their tax bill, to make big changes, often by shifting profits overseas. The plan also includes efforts to combat climate change and proposes replacing fossil fuel subsidies with tax incentives that encourage clean energy production.

Some companies have expressed their willingness to pay more taxes, but the overall scope of the proposal is likely to affect the business community, which has benefited for years from loopholes in tax legislation and a loose approach to enforcement.

Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen said during a briefing with reporters Wednesday that the plan would end a global race to the bottom Corporate taxation That was destructive to the American economy and its workers.

“Our tax revenues are at their lowest level in generations,” said Ms. Yellen. “If they keep falling, we will have less money to invest in roads, bridges, broadband, and research and development.”

The Biden government’s plan announced by the Treasury Department would raise the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent. The government said the increase would align the US corporate tax rate more closely with other advanced economies and reduce inequality. It would also stay lower than it was before Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, when the tax rate was 35 percent.

The White House also proposed major changes to several international tax rules, contained in the Trump tax cuts, which the Biden administration referred to in the report as guidelines that “make America last” by benefiting foreigners. One of the biggest changes is doubling the de facto global minimum tax to 21 percent and tightening it to force companies to pay the tax on a wider income range between countries.

This has created concern, particularly in the business world. Joshua Bolten, executive director of the Business Roundtable, said in a statement this week that “the US is facing a major competitive disadvantage”.

The plan would also repeal provisions enacted during the Trump administration that the Biden administration said failed to curb profit shifting and business reversals where an American company merged with a foreign company and became its subsidiary, effectively making its headquarters for tax purposes was relocated abroad purposes. It would replace them with stricter anti-inversion rules and stricter penalties for so-called profit stripping.

The plan does not focus solely on the international side of corporate tax legislation. Attempts are made to crack down on large, profitable companies that pay little or no income tax, but signalize big profits to companies with their “book value”. To reduce this inequality, companies would have to pay a minimum 15 percent tax on book revenues that companies report to investors, which is often used to assess shareholder and executive payouts.

A big beneficiary of the plan would be the Internal Revenue Service, whose budget has become tight in recent years. The Biden government proposal would increase the tax collection company’s budget to step up enforcement and tax collection efforts.