We’re looking across the pond for inspiration.
President Biden has just announced plans for $2 trillion of investment in America’s crumbling infrastructure.Biden wants to upgrade roads, railways and bridges. The plan includes money to green the economy, as well as investment in looking after vulnerable Americans. This is transformative amounts of money.
The infrastructure plan would be paid for by increasing taxes on companies. The President wants to reverse some of Donald Trump’s tax cuts. Biden is going after multinational companies that pay too little tax.
Biden has also said that it’s time for countries to end the “race-to-the-bottom” on how companies are taxed.
This is music to our ears.
It fits with a growing pattern of politicians making the case for higher taxes on companies. In the UK, the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has said that the corporate tax rate will go up to 25% from the current 19%.
At the moment we have promises. And we all know that politicians are often bad at turning their rhetoric into reality.
But it gives us hope to see President Biden setting out a vision for high quality public services backed by a more progressive tax system.
At Tax Justice UK we will work to make sure that our political leaders take notice.
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