Joe Biden is proposing to plough $2 trillion (€1.7 trillion) in government spending into US infrastructure alongside $2 trillion in higher corporate taxes, in the first stage of a multitrillion-dollar effort to reshape the world’s largest economy. Mr Biden wants to raise the corporate tax rate from 21 per cent to 28 per cent, and muster additional revenue through a 21 per cent global minimum tax, calculated on a country-by-country basis “so it hits profits in tax havens”, according to the White House. Even before Mr Biden released his plan, the Business Roundtable, which represents the biggest blue-chip companies in Washington, attacked the tax increases element. “Business Roundtable strongly opposes corporate tax increases as a pay-for for infrastructure investment. Policymakers should avoid creating new barriers to job creation and economic growth, particularly during the recovery,” said Joshua Bolten, former White House chief of staff under George W Bush and the Business Roundtable president.

Source: The Irish Times March 31, 2021 12:11 UTC