WASHINGTON, March 9 — President Joe Biden will unveil a proposed budget on Thursday that would reduce the US national deficit by US$3 trillion (RM13.6 trillion) over the next decade, in part by raising taxes, the White House said.
The budget plan “will cut the deficit by nearly US$3 trillion over the next 10 years,” Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Wednesday.
The plan would rely in part on raising taxes on the wealthy and corporations — something Republicans in Congress are not expected to authorise.
The US$3 trillion figure is far higher than the previous goal set by Biden of US$2 trillion.
However, Congress, not the White House, controls federal spending, making the budget largely an aspirational political platform ahead of 2024 presidential elections, in which Biden is expected to seek a second term.
“The president wants to lay out in a transparent way to the American people the way he sees us moving forward,” Jean-Pierre said.
Biden’s plan will raise pressure on Republicans who have said they are preparing their own alternative budget plan that would focus on spending cuts, not tax increases.
Jean-Pierre said Biden’s plan will seek to make “the wealthy and big corporations pay their fair share, without raising taxes on Americans” earning less than US$400,000 a year.
The Republicans, however, will add to the deficit “with handouts to the rich, big corporations and special interest groups,” she said. — AFP
