11 March 2024

Biden FY2025 Budget calls for corporate, individual tax increases

President Biden's FY2025 Budget proposal released March 11 includes previously advocated and some new tax proposals under a broader message calling for lowering costs for families, protecting and strengthening Social Security and Medicare, and reducing the deficit by making big corporations and the wealthy "pay their fair share," which is essentially the underpinning of Democratic tax policy goals going back at least a dozen years, to the Obama administration.

The Budget, a traditionally aspirational document that in this case represents a roadmap of what a second Biden term could look like on tax if the Democrats win the requisite control in Congress to make the proposals a reality, includes tax items outlined in the State of the Union and related materials such as:

  • increasing the corporate alternative minimum tax (CAMT) to 21% (from 15%)
  • quadrupling the stock buyback tax to 4% (from 1%)
  • raising the corporate income tax rate to 28% (from 21%)
  • a 25% billionaires' tax
  • ending corporate deductions for the compensation costs for any employee (not just top executives) of more than $1 million per year
  • longer depreciation of, and higher fuel taxes on, private jets
  • a new tax credit for first-time homebuyers and people who sell their starter homes

The document describes the President's legislative accomplishments and says, "the Administration looks forward to building on this progress with responsible investments that continue to grow America's economy from the middle out and bottom up while improving the long-term budget outlook. The Budget proposes another $3 trillion in deficit reduction over the next 10 years by making the wealthy and large corporations pay their fair share, closing tax loopholes, cutting wasteful spending on Big Pharma, Big Oil, and other special interests."

President Biden further defined the parameters of how he would approach the 2025 TCJA individual and pass-through tax provision expirations, which he said in his address last Thursday that he supports continuing as they apply to those earning less than $400,000. Similar to the FY2024 Budget, the FY2025 document said, "The President:

  • opposes increasing taxes on people earning less than $400,000 and supports cutting taxes for working people and families with children to give them more breathing room;
  • opposes tax cuts for the wealthy — either extending tax cuts for the top 2% of Americans earning over $400,000 or bringing back deductions and other tax breaks for these households; and
  • supports paying for extending tax cuts for people earning less than $400,000 with additional reforms to ensure that wealthy people and big corporations pay their fair share, so that the problematic sunsets created by President Trump and congressional Republicans are addressed in a fiscally responsible manner."

The Treasury Department Green Book is available here.

There is also additional information and a table of select provisions from the Treasury Green Book with revenue estimates over 2025—2034 in the attached WCEY Alert.

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Attachment

Treasury Green Book provisions

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Contact Information

For additional information concerning this Alert, please contact:

Washington Council Ernst & Young

  • Any member of the group at (202) 293-7474.

Document ID: 2024-0578