President Joe Biden unveiled a $5.8 trillion budget request designed to appease moderate Democrats on Monday, with a proposal that emphasised deficit reduction, additional funding for police and veterans, and flexibility to negotiate new social spending programs.
Congress historically sets presidential budgets aside, but they do form a key messaging device. The White House included measures that would add up to the biggest tax increase in history in dollar terms, helping stabilise deficits relative to the size of the economy.
The 2023 budget calls for $1.598 trillion in so-called discretionary spending. The president also sidestepped fragile negotiations over the remnants of his “Build Back Better” agenda, putting only placeholder figures in the document in what White House officials acknowledged was an effort to give lawmakers space to negotiate.
Biden is calling for more than $2.5 trillion in tax hikes on wealthy and large corporations over a decade, on top of the nearly $1.5 trillion of increases included in the House’s version of the Build Back Better plan. The proposal adds a 20 per cent minimum tax on the unrealised capital gains for households worth at least $100 million.
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