President Elect Biden's Plans

Biden’s plans to stimulate the economy appear to be two-fold, with the first priority being an infrastructure plan intended to spur job creation, similar to the Great Depression-New Deal era of public job programs.

Those ideas, which form together into a $2 trillion infrastructure plan previously discussed on the campaign trail, include:

• Creating 1 million new jobs in the auto industry by expanding factory floors.
• Adding 250,000 jobs for plugging abandoned oil and natural gas wells.
• Another million jobs for updating homes, transit and buildings to be environmentally friendly and sustainable;
• A separate $700 billion manufacturing program to create what Biden estimates could be 5 million jobs by investing in American-made products.
• Tax credits for firms if they expand U.S. operations and hire more workers.

Biden’s plans to fight the coronavirus and the economic recovery come with a big price tag — meaning, odds are, they’ll have to be financed by raising taxes. The U.S. federal deficit in 2020 alone has already soared to its widest level ever, thanks to Congress' massive response with the CARES Act.

A key Biden campaign message, however, has been that he’s only planning to raise those taxes on the country’s wealthiest earners and corporations. That looks like:

Everyday Americans: Restoring the top-line tax rate of 37% to 39.6%, which was reduced after Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017. As of 2020 (taxes due in 2021), single filers earning $518,401 or higher and married filers earning more than $622,051 are currently taxed at the top-line rate of 37%.
Corporations: Raising the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%, introducing a 15% minimum “book” profit tax on companies that earn more than $100 million a year in revenue; making employers pay payroll taxes on wages at or above $400,000 a year (Currently, those taxes are capped on earnings of $137,700).
Investments: Taxing capital gains as income, regardless of whether they’re a short-term or long-term investment, on earners who make more than $1 million annually; eliminating a “step-up in basis” that allows descendants to pass those investments to heirs tax free.   SOURCE:  Chicago Tribune

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