To pay for green infrastructure investments and address the existential threat of climate change, President Joe Biden said the U.S. needs to make “the wealthiest and biggest corporations began to pay their fair share.”
“Look, I’m a capitalist, but pay your fair share,” he said in his State of the Union address Tuesday, adding that the tax system itself is not fair and that teachers and nurses pay more than billionaires.
Biden said he wants to increase taxes on corporations who buy back stocks after posting profits instead of reinvesting it.
“Corporations ought to do the right thing. That’s why I propose we quadruple the tax on corporate stock buybacks and encourage long-term investments,” Biden said.
As Republicans audibly rejected his proposal, Biden also said he wanted Congress to pass higher tax increases on billionaires.
Biden’s Feb. 7 address comes a year after Russia invaded Ukraine and amid new diplomatic tensions between the U.S. and China over a suspected surveillance balloon. This is Biden’s second State of the Union address, as his first was a joint address to Congress in April 2021.
Last year, Biden used his address to emphasize themes of bipartisanship and unity. But he now faces a split Congress, with the GOP-led House launching efforts to investigate his family and his administration.
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