President Joe Biden said Monday he was “not at all” worried about higher tax rates on corporations pushing American companies out of the United States.
Reporters questioned Biden about his proposed corporate tax increase from 21 percent to 28 percent to pay for his massive $2.5 trillion infrastructure proposal as he returned to the White House on Monday.
One reporter asked Biden if he was worried about companies potentially leaving the United States if he successfully raised corporate tax rates.
“Not at all. Not at all,” Biden replied. “Because there’s no evidence of that.”
Biden complained many of America’s top companies paid nothing in federal taxes.
“You’re talking about companies in the Fortune 500 that haven’t paid a single penny in tax for 3 years,” he said. “Come on man.”
Under former President Donald Trump, the Republicans brought the corporate tax rate down from the fourth-highest income tax rate in the world in 2017 to a more competitive rate.
Biden said he was concerned other countries were spending billions on infrastructure and getting ahead of the United States.
“Everybody else in the rest of the world is investing billions and billions of dollars in infrastructure and we’re going to do it here,” he said.
Biden also criticized Republicans for attacking his bill for including billions of dollars of spending unrelated to infrastructure.
He argued that replacing lead pipes and asbestos in schools is infrastructure. He also said his proposed spending on high-speed rail and improving federal buildings to make them more energy-efficient is also infrastructure.
“That’s infrastructure, in addition to roads and bridges and broadband,” he said.
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