Commodities and Futures News

Former U.S. Treasury secretaries back drugs, climate, tax bill

2022.08.03 18:09

3/3
Former U.S. Treasury secretaries back drugs, climate, tax bill
FILE PHOTO: Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson speaks at the 2019 New Economy Forum in Beijing, China November 21, 2019. REUTERS/Jason Lee

2/3

By David Lawder

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Five former U.S. Treasury secretaries – four Democrats and one Republican — on Wednesday voiced support for a proposed $430 billion drugs, energy and tax bill, saying that it would reduce costs for middle-class families.

The statement from former secretaries Robert Rubin, Larry Summers, Jacob Lew, Tim Geithner and Henry Paulson echo a letter https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/136/Inflation-Reduction-Act-Letter-to-Congress-20220802.pdf sent by current Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to congressional leaders on Tuesday that the bill would not raise taxes for Americans earning less than $400,000.

The statement excluded Steven Mnuchin, the most recent former secretary, who served in former president Donald Trump’s Republican administration. Paulson, the lone Republican in the group, has championed environmental causes, including transitioning to clean energy.

Republicans have argued that the bill would break President Biden’s pledge not to raise taxes on that level because of a Joint Committee on Taxation analysis of distributional effects https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/jct_distributional_effects_inflation_reduction_act.pdf of income and taxes from the legislation, known as the “Inflation Reduction Act of 2022”.

The JCT analysis shows that higher taxes paid by corporations would indirectly raise the effective tax burdens of Americans with incomes of $200,000 or less by $16.7 billion in 2023, through income reduction effects.

The former Treasury secretaries, in a statement issued by Summers’ Harvard University office, said the bill was “financed by prudent tax policy that will collect more from top earners and large corporations.

“Taxes due or paid will not increase for any family making less than $400,000/year. And the extra taxes levied on corporations do not reflect increases in the corporate tax rate, but rather the reclaiming of revenue lost to tax avoidance and provisions benefiting the most affluent,” they said.

The secretaries also said the JCT analysis selectively presented distributional effects of the bill, but neglected to show its benefits to middle-class families from reduced prescription drug prices to more affordable energy.

“This legislation will help increase American competitiveness, address our climate crisis, lower costs for families, and fight inflation — and should be passed immediately by Congress,” the former secretaries said.

Summers last year was critical of the Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan COVID-19 relief package, arguing that it was excessive and would stoke persistent inflation.

The proposed legislation would provide new federal funding for a significant reduction in U.S. carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to climate change and allow Medicare, the federal health insurance program for the elderly and disabled, to negotiate lower pharmaceutical prices.

The bill would be financed by a new 15% domestic corporate minimum tax large firms with more than $1 billion in book income, while closing some credits and deductions benefiting wealthy Americans.

Source

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Back to top button
bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) $ 98,169.30 0.48%
ethereum
Ethereum (ETH) $ 3,414.24 2.05%
tether
Tether (USDT) $ 1.00 0.00%
solana
Solana (SOL) $ 256.81 1.93%
bnb
BNB (BNB) $ 659.16 2.29%
xrp
XRP (XRP) $ 1.46 3.99%
dogecoin
Dogecoin (DOGE) $ 0.434749 4.25%
usd-coin
USDC (USDC) $ 1.00 0.01%
cardano
Cardano (ADA) $ 1.07 0.54%
staked-ether
Lido Staked Ether (STETH) $ 3,409.53 1.77%
tron
TRON (TRX) $ 0.214923 3.62%
stellar
Stellar (XLM) $ 0.589411 40.63%
avalanche-2
Avalanche (AVAX) $ 42.10 3.91%
the-open-network
Toncoin (TON) $ 6.41 15.59%
shiba-inu
Shiba Inu (SHIB) $ 0.000027 1.27%
wrapped-steth
Wrapped stETH (WSTETH) $ 4,050.94 2.11%
wrapped-bitcoin
Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) $ 97,924.24 0.28%
polkadot
Polkadot (DOT) $ 9.09 23.90%
chainlink
Chainlink (LINK) $ 17.73 6.34%
bitcoin-cash
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 517.55 2.43%
weth
WETH (WETH) $ 3,414.54 2.25%
sui
Sui (SUI) $ 3.45 2.94%
pepe
Pepe (PEPE) $ 0.000021 1.88%
leo-token
LEO Token (LEO) $ 8.61 1.09%
near
NEAR Protocol (NEAR) $ 6.42 4.22%
litecoin
Litecoin (LTC) $ 100.69 1.41%
aptos
Aptos (APT) $ 12.99 2.05%
uniswap
Uniswap (UNI) $ 10.93 8.67%
wrapped-eeth
Wrapped eETH (WEETH) $ 3,601.58 2.44%
hedera-hashgraph
Hedera (HBAR) $ 0.150674 1.84%
internet-computer
Internet Computer (ICP) $ 11.77 8.55%
crypto-com-chain
Cronos (CRO) $ 0.196947 5.05%
usds
USDS (USDS) $ 1.00 0.15%
polygon-ecosystem-token
POL (ex-MATIC) (POL) $ 0.579123 13.37%
ethereum-classic
Ethereum Classic (ETC) $ 30.00 3.89%
render-token
Render (RENDER) $ 7.87 1.31%
bittensor
Bittensor (TAO) $ 534.91 2.60%
kaspa
Kaspa (KAS) $ 0.152483 2.14%
fetch-ai
Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET) $ 1.47 11.99%
ethena-usde
Ethena USDe (USDE) $ 1.00 0.02%
arbitrum
Arbitrum (ARB) $ 0.880666 9.44%
cosmos
Cosmos Hub (ATOM) $ 9.18 19.78%
bonk
Bonk (BONK) $ 0.000048 5.39%
filecoin
Filecoin (FIL) $ 5.95 21.22%
whitebit
WhiteBIT Coin (WBT) $ 24.74 0.50%
vechain
VeChain (VET) $ 0.042979 11.42%
dai
Dai (DAI) $ 1.00 0.03%
mantra-dao
MANTRA (OM) $ 3.75 2.85%
dogwifcoin
dogwifhat (WIF) $ 3.32 0.36%
celestia
Celestia (TIA) $ 7.45 26.05%