President Joe Biden suggested a new 20% minimum tax on unrealized capital gains on households worth at least $100 million in his budget plan presented this week. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) didn't take long to dismiss the concept.
Joe Manchin stated that he supports tax reform that will reverse some of the Republican tax cuts enacted in 2017. "Everybody has to pay their fair share, that's for sure. But unrealized gains is not the way to do it, as far as I'm concerned," he said.
If Democrats want to amend the tax code through the reconciliation procedure to avoid a Republican filibuster, they'll need his support in an equally divided Senate. According to the White House, the minimum tax would generate $360 billion for the richest 0.01 percent of American families over a decade.
However, as with previous Biden tax-hike proposals, getting enough Democrats on board could be difficult; and as noted earlier this week, the new minimum tax proposal would likely face a slew of questions, including whether it violates the Constitution. Because of Manchin's resistance, Biden's idea is likely to die barely a day after it was announced by the White House, according to Yahoo News.
Throughout Biden's administration, Manchin has made impressively clear remarks like these, hurting the Biden agenda in the process. He outlined his objection to Biden's budget measure, called Build Back Better, in a long statement in September, which expanded healthcare programs without addressing future Medicare funding deficits.
In the same remark, he expressed his opposition to overspending in the aftermath of trillions in deficit-financed pandemic help, warning that Democrats were mistaken in believing that trillions of dollars in new federal expenditure would not raise inflation.
Months later, Manchin slammed the Build Back Better proposal once more, claiming that it had morphed to appease both Manchin and progressive Democrats. The overall cost had been cut, but mostly by artificially decreasing the financing periods for different initiatives, including many that Democrats anticipated would be permanent.
Throughout the year, the Biden administration tried to preserve the impression that the spending package was virtually complete and that Manchin was on board with the overall concept even if some details remained to be worked out. Biden even gave a speech based on the assumption that the budget package had already passed, as per Reason.
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Bernie Sanders Slams Joe Manchin Over Opposition to Biden's Plan
Meanwhile, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont took a shot at West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin on Tuesday after the conservative Democrat buried a new White House tax proposal aimed at the wealthiest Americans.
On Tuesday, he stated, "I don't care what Mr. Manchin has to say."
In recent months, Manchin and Sanders have had a tense relationship. Manchin has been chastised by the Vermont independent for derailing Biden's economic program late last year.
He made it clear that he will support a primary challenger to Manchin in 2024. Sanders chastised Manchin for standing with the Republicans and allowing the enhanced child tax credit to expire. Manchin has also chastised Sanders, claiming that his worldview is "not what I think that the majority of Americans represent," Business Insider reported.
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