WASHINGTON — Top White House economic officials said Tuesday that President Joe Biden will announce how his administration is tackling economic issues — from the housing crisis to restoring the expansion of the child tax credit — during this week’s State of the Union address to Congress and the nation.
“Providing more breathing room to American families is really something that remains a top priority for the president,” said Jon Donenberg, a deputy director of the National Economic Council, in a briefing at the White House with reporters from regional publications.
The speech is expected to be of great significance for Biden as he seeks reelection in November against the likely Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump.
Some policies Biden will address in his remarks Thursday night include his administration’s efforts to crack down on “junk fees,” help first-time homebuyers and protect renters from rent hikes, as well as pushing for several changes to the U.S. tax code.
Daniel Hornung, a deputy director of the National Economic Council, said that Biden will make the case to Republicans to bring back the expanded child tax credit.
“The president will push to restore that tax break to make sure that families across the country, families with children, have the breathing room they need,” Hornung said.
Biden will use the State of the Union to push tax policies that promote “interests of working people and not billionaires or megacorporations,” Hornung said.
The president will propose a multi-pronged plan that would include raising the corporate tax rate to 28%, a priority Biden discussed in last year’s budget proposal.
Hornung said the president wants to reverse the “tax windfall” that corporations enjoyed following the Trump administration’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that set the corporate rate at 21%.
Biden will again pitch a minimum tax on the richest 0.01% of Americans and call on Congress to ensure tax cuts for lower- and middle-income Americans by restoring all or part of the pandemic-era expansion of the child tax credit and premium tax credits for Affordable Care Act plans.
Push in Congress on taxes
Biden’s renewed urgency over the tax code comes as Trump’s 2017 tax policies are winding down and must either be renewed or changed by the end of 2025. Biden is expected, in his speech, to criticize Republican proposals to extend some Trump-era tax breaks.
Congress has taken rare bipartisan, bicameral action this year to head off the looming tax code tempest.
A proposal to temporarily expand the child tax credit and restore a handful of expired or expiring corporate tax incentives received sweeping support in the U.S. House in late January. The bill, which the White House has endorsed, is stalled in the U.S. Senate.
The 2021 expansion of the child tax credit lifted nearly 3 million children out of poverty, according to the U.S. Census.
