By Kehinde Okeowo
President Biden has said Teachers and FireFighters are currently paying more tax than corporations in America.
He also said he is optimistic that this will change, and that his spending bills will scale through the US Congress.
He made this known, during a town hall meeting anchored by CNN host, Anderson Cooper, yesterday, in Baltimore, Maryland.
The US 46th president has been having a running battle with Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who are surprisingly holding up the proposals, despite being elected on the platform of his president’s party, the Democratic party.
Biden however, expressed optimism that the two key spending proposals in the divided Congress will be agreed upon and passed.
“I do think I’ll get a deal,” he said when asked by the anchor if he thinks he will.
The President also urged lawmakers to reach a compromise on the two pieces of legislation which together contain much of his domestic agenda, despite the sharp divide currently crippling bipartisanship in the US Congress, as he said:
“It’s all about compromise, you know, compromise has become a dirty word, but … bipartisanship and compromise still have to be possible.”
Biden went on to tell those skeptical about the ambitious legislation proposals, that a lot depends on its passage if the country must move forward.
“Everybody’s been saying, well, ‘that’s crazy, you can’t do it,'” the President said. “If we can’t eventually in this country we’re in deep trouble.” He added.
According to CNN, Biden will be meeting with lawmakers this week to negotiate both aspects of his infrastructure proposals; a sweeping economic package to expand the social safety net and a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill.
Before then, he had spent months delivering speeches across the country trying to tell the public about his infrastructure plans.
Biden also urged corporations to pay their fair share of taxes, while discussing tax rates during the town hall.
“You have 55 corporations, for example, in the United States of America making over $40 billion, don’t pay a cent. Not a single little red cent. Now, I don’t care — I’m a capitalist. I hope you can be a millionaire or billionaire. But at least pay your fair share. Chip in a little bit.” He said
Biden added that a situation where a teacher or firefighter pays more than corporations is unacceptable, saying that the leaders of the corporations are aware they should be paying more.
“The tax rate, the corporate tax rate, was 35 points — 37%. Barack and I thought it should come down. We thought it should come down to 28%. In the process, it came down to 21% under Trump. Which even the corporate leaders, and you know if you’re in real estate, major real estate, ask them. They know they should be paying a little more than 21% because of the idea that if you’re a school teacher and a firefighter you’re paying at a higher tax rate than they are as a percentage of your taxes.” He concluded.