President Joe Biden’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2023 includes a few notable aspects, including huge increases in military spending, over $80 billion to prepare for future pandemics, and large tax increases on wealthy Americans.
On Monday, Biden laid out a budget that would increase military spending to a whopping $813 billion.
In his statement about his budget request, Biden noted, “Budgets are statements of values, and the budget I am releasing today sends a clear message that we value fiscal responsibility, safety and security at home and around the world, and the investments needed to continue our equitable growth and build a better America.”
In his budget request, Biden asked Congress to boost military funding by 4% and non-defense funds by 5%. He also proposed a new tax on the nation’s richest households. https://t.co/Ud01mHzL1L
— POLITICO (@politico) March 28, 2022
Defense And National Security Spending
Biden’s massive request for $813 billion – as Reuters points out, more than former President Trump ever requested – and up from $778 billion last year, isn’t even enough for some Republicans. Biden’s 4% increase isn’t as high as the 5% Republicans have already demanded.
In his statement, Biden declared,
“I’m calling for one of the largest investments in our national security in history, with the funds needed to ensure that our military remains the best-prepared, best-trained, best-equipped military in the world. In addition, I’m calling for continued investment to forcefully respond to Putin’s aggression against Ukraine with U.S. support for Ukraine’s economic, humanitarian, and security needs.”
We do not need to raise the defense budget by another $31 billion.
It's time to make investments into our communities — not into a defense budget that is already larger than the next 11 countries combined. pic.twitter.com/2nUpMpNt6E
— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) March 28, 2022
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Taxing The Rich
The new “Billionaire Minimum Income Tax” would hit the nation’s most well-to-do taxpayers, those “worth” more than $100 million, with a bill of at least 20% in taxes on both income and unrealized gains.
Further, the corporate tax rate would increase significantly to 28%, up from 21%.
The U.S. already has a corporate tax rate above the world average, according to the Tax Foundation.
The Biden White House Budget for FY 2023:
Proposes a new minimum tax on billionaires.
"This minimum tax would apply only to the wealthiest 0.01 percent of households—those with more than $100 million—and over half the revenue would come from billionaires alone."
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) March 28, 2022
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Planning For Future Pandemics
The new budget proposal also includes $81.7 billion for future pandemic preparation.
The breakdown of pandemic spending includes $40 billion for R&D and manufacturing capacity for vaccines, another $28 for the CDC, $12.1 billion for the National Institutes of Health, and almost $2 billion for the FDA.
Biden claims his budget is the fiscally responsible thing to do overall:
“My Administration is on track to reduce the federal deficit by more than $1.3 trillion this year, cutting in half the deficit from the last year of the previous Administration and delivering the largest one-year reduction in the deficit in U.S. history.”
Today Joe Biden will unveil a tax increase in his 2023 budget.
Why are we hiking taxes if Biden's agenda costs zero dollars?
— Lance Gooden (@Lancegooden) March 28, 2022