Treasury Deputy Minister Adewale Adeyemo Janet Yellen said on Wednesday that raising the US corporate tax rate to 28% would not make US businesses less competitive because the Biden government is confident it can win the support of developed countries to set a minimum tax worldwide.
“We worked very closely with our international counterparts to work what was a race to the bottom in terms of international taxation,” Adeyemo, who goes through Wally, told Sara Eisen, CNBC.
“We believe through both things that we are going to do worldwide in terms of the G-20, where the United States has made it clear that we are back and we are looking forward to leading the world, we can reach an agreement that the vast majority of developed countries in the world will attract to set a minimum tax, ‘said Treasury official No. 2.
Yellen said Monday it is working with the Group of 20 countries to create a minimum corporate tax that will help companies relocate abroad to find lower rates. President Joe Biden has made raising the U.S. corporate tax rate a key mechanism to fund his massive $ 2 billion infrastructure plan.
The Republican Party is also strongly opposed to withdrawing tax returns from former President Donald Trump in 2017, lowering the rate businesses pay on earnings to 21% from 35%. Biden’s plan would not only partially reverse the decline in corporate taxes, but also hit other important provisions of Trump’s tax cuts and labor laws.
The president opened the door on Wednesday to compromise on his proposed increase in corporate taxes, but said the US must act boldly on infrastructure if it wants to keep pace with countries like China.
Adeyemo defends the wide infrastructure plan of the Biden administration and says that the US needs investments beyond the repair of roads and bridges to compete worldwide in the modern era.
“The investments that the president is asking for in the work package are the same investments that the Chinese are doing and other countries are doing,” Adeyemo said. “It’s important that we do it now to make sure America can compete in the 21st century.”
He said Biden’s plan and the broader definition of the White House’s infrastructure are being favored not only by progressive politicians but also by Wall Street executives.
Adeyemo was asked to criticize that the one-time plan is too big and not sufficiently focused.
“The pandemic has taught us that we can not only think about traditional infrastructure, namely roads and bridges and ports, but that we need to think about what it takes to compete in the 21st century, which includes things like broadband, “Adeyemo said.
“One of the groups most affected by Covid-19 was those who had to care for others because they were unable to enter the workforce,” he added. “A number of investments we are making here are to make sure the individuals have the support and infrastructure to ensure that they can return to the workforce and contribute to the economy.”
Adeyemo’s comments come one week after Biden debuted his long-promised infrastructure proposal in Pittsburgh for the first time.
If adopted, the U.S. work plan will invest hundreds of billions of dollars in transportation infrastructure, water systems, broadband access, electrical grids, job training and other facilities. It requires $ 400 billion for the care of elderly and disabled Americans, as well as $ 300 billion for the construction and construction of affordable housing.
Republicans are virtually united in their opposition to the written plan, and view the legislation as too broad in light of the $ 1.9 billion Covid-19 aid package that Democrats had through Congress earlier this year.
Both Yellen and Adeyemo made history at the Treasury Department as the first woman to lead the agency and the first black deputy secretary, respectively.