President Barack Obama is sending Congress a $4 trillion US budget that would boost taxes on higher-income Americans and corporations. It would use the money to get rid of tight budget spending caps, fund an ambitious public works program and provide middle-class tax relief.
Obama’s budget, which will set off months of wrangling in Congress, proposes spending $4 trillion — $3.999 trillion before rounding — in the budget year that begins Oct. 1.
That’s a 6.4 per cent increase over projected spending this year. It projects the deficit will decline to $474 billion in 2016.
The budget includes an ambitious $478 billion public works program for highway, bridge and transit upgrades.
Tax on company’s foreign profits
On the weekend, the White House also revealed there would be a one-time mandatory tax of 14 per cent on profits that U.S. companies have amassed overseas.
That’s lower than the current top corporate rate of 35 per cent, and it would be accompanied by an administration plan to overhaul corporate taxes to end some tax breaks and lower rates overall.
In a message accompanying the massive budget books, Obama says his proposals are “practical, not partisan.”
Even before the books were delivered, however, Republicans found plenty to criticize in tax hikes totalling $2 trillion.
Earlier in the day, Obama warned he won’t accept a plan that boosts national security spending at the expense of domestic programs for the middle class.
During a visit to the Homeland Security Department, he said he will not accept a budget that “severs the vital
link” between economic security and national security.
The president also says every American has an interest in making sure the Homeland Security Department has what it needs to achieve its mission. He wants Congress to pass a funding bill for the department without rolling back his executive actions on immigration.
Source:: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/u-s-budget-would-hike-taxes-on-high-income-earners-1.2940405?cmp=rss
