华盛顿——根据白宫预算办公室周六发布的一份情况说明书，乔·拜登总统打算提议对价值超过1亿美元的家庭征收最低20%的税，并在未来十年内将预计预算赤字削减超过1万亿美元。
对最富有的美国人征收最低税意味着税法的重大调整。它将适用于收入最高的0.01%的家庭，其中一半的预期收入来自价值10亿美元或以上的家庭。最低税将有效防止美国最富有的一小部分人支付比自认为是中产阶级的家庭更低的税率，同时有助于创造收入来推动拜登的国内雄心，并使赤字相对于美国经济保持在可控范围内。
在他周一预计的提案中，较低的赤字也反映了美国经济从疫情中复苏。这是一个迹象，表明在抗击冠状病毒的历史性支出激增后，政府的资产负债表将有所改善。
疫情和增长的消退使赤字从2020财年的3.1万亿美元降至去年的2.8万亿美元，预计今年将达到1.4万亿美元。这种赤字支出得到了回报，去年经济以5.7%的速度增长，这是自1984年以来最强劲的增长。但伴随这些强劲增长的还有40年来最高的通胀，因为高物价拖累了拜登的受欢迎程度。
对于拜登政府来说，从10月1日开始的预算年度提案显示，支出的激增有助于推动经济增长，并因此使政府财政在未来几年更加稳定。一名因预算尚未公布而要求匿名的白宫官员表示，该提案表明，民主党人可以兑现共和党人之前承诺的内容，但没有取得太大成功:更快的增长和不断下降的赤字。
然而，拜登的预算将承诺通过一种财富税来实现这一目标，许多共和党人表示，这种税会减少对创造就业机会的公司的私人投资，导致富人将财富转移到海外工作，从而损害经济。
共和党议员表示，拜登政府过去一年的支出导致了更高价格形式的更大经济痛苦。随着疫情的封锁开始结束，美国经济重新开放，随之而来的通货膨胀被供应链问题、低利率以及现在俄罗斯入侵乌克兰导致的石油和天然气市场中断所放大。
肯塔基州的参议院共和党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔(Mitch McConnell)将责任完全归咎于拜登对冠状病毒的缓解以及他对远离化石燃料的推动。
麦康奈尔上周表示:“华盛顿民主党人对这些困难的回应就像对美国能源的战争和导致这些困难的失控支出一样被误导。拜登政府似乎愿意尝试任何事情，除了收回他们自己灾难性的经济政策。"
拜登从特朗普政府继承了相当于整个美国经济14.9%的预算赤字。但据熟悉预算提案的人士说，从下一个预算年度开始，赤字将低于经济的5%，使美国走上一条更可持续的道路。这些人士要求匿名讨论即将到来的细节。
即使利率上升，较低的赤字总额也将更容易管理。
2022财年的预期赤字下降反映了就业的强劲复苏，这在很大程度上是因为拜登1.9万亿美元的冠状病毒救助计划。新增就业意味着额外的税收收入，与2021财年相比，政府可能增加3000亿美元的收入，增长10%。
尽管如此，美国仍将面临几个可能重塑拜登拟议预算的不确定性，其中的数字不包括最近签署成为法律的支出综合预算。拜登和美国的盟友还向与俄罗斯军队作战的乌克兰人提供援助，这场战争可能会重塑支出优先事项和更广泛的经济前景。
Biden budget seeks minimum tax on households worth $100m
Biden budget seeks minimum tax on households worth $100m
The Associated Press
President Joe Biden delivers a speech about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, at the Royal...
WASHINGTON -- President Joe Biden intends to propose a minimum tax of 20% on households worth more than $100 million and cut projected budget deficits by more than $1 trillion over the next decade, according to a fact sheets released Saturday by the White House budget office.
The introduction of the minimum tax on the wealthiest Americans would represent a significant reorienting of the tax code. It would apply to the top 0.01% of households with half of the expected revenue coming from households worth $1 billion or more. The minimum tax would effectively prevent the wealthiest sliver of America from paying lower rates than families who think of themselves as middle class, while helping to generate revenues to fuel Biden's domestic ambitions and keep the deficit in check relative to the U.S. economy.
In his proposal expected Monday, the lower deficits also reflect the economy's resurgence as the United States emerges from the pandemic. It's a sign that the government's balance sheet will improve after a historic burst of spending to combat the coronavirus.
The fading of the pandemic and the growth has enabled the deficit to fall from $3.1 trillion in fiscal 2020 to $2.8 trillion last year and a projected $1.4 trillion this year. That deficit spending paid off in the form of the economy expanding at a 5.7% pace last year, the strongest growth since 1984. But inflation at a 40-year high also accompanied those robust gains as high prices have weighed on Biden's popularity.
For the Biden administration, the proposal for the budget year that begins Oct. 1 shows that the burst of spending helped to fuel growth and put government finances in a more stable place for years to come as a result. One White House official, insisting on anonymity because the budget has yet to be released, said the proposal shows that Democrats can deliver on what Republicans have promised before without much success: faster growth and falling deficits.
Yet the Biden budget would pledge to do so through a kind of wealth tax that many Republicans say would hurt the economy by diminishing private investment in companies that create jobs and cause the wealthy to put their fortunes to work abroad.
Republican lawmakers have said that the Biden administration's spending over the past year has led to greater economic pain in the form of higher prices. The inflation that came with reopening the U.S. economy as the closures from the pandemic began to end has been amplified by supply chain issues, low interest rates and, now, disruptions in the oil and natural gas markets because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky pinned the blame solely on Biden's coronavirus relief as well as his push to move away from fossil fuels.
“Washington Democrats’ response to these hardships has been as misguided as the war on American energy and runaway spending that helped create them,” McConnell said last week. “The Biden administration seems to be willing to try anything but walking back their own disastrous economic policies."
Biden inherited from the Trump administration a budget deficit that was equal in size to 14.9% of the entire U.S. economy. But the deficit starting in the upcoming budget year will be below 5% of the economy, putting the country on a more sustainable path, according to people familiar with the budget proposal who insisted on anonymity to discuss forthcoming details.
The lower deficit totals will also be easier to manage even if interest rates rise.
The expected deficit decrease for fiscal 2022 reflects the solid recovery in hiring that occurred in large part because of Biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. The added jobs mean additional tax revenue, with the government likely collecting $300 billion more in revenues compared to fiscal 2021, a 10% increase.
Still, the country will face several uncertainties that could reshape Biden's proposed budget, which will have figures that don't include the spending omnibus recently signed into law. Biden and U.S. allies are also providing aid to Ukrainians who are fighting against Russian forces, a war that could possibly reshape spending priorities and the broader economic outlook.
