Ben Ritz, the director of the Progressive Policy Institute’s Center for Funding America’s Future, said the White House’s choice to not explain the budgetary effect of some of its domestic policy proposals would leave “Democrats in Congress to fill in the blanks.” It is “unlikely most of these policies could be sufficiently vetted and refined” before the midterm elections, he said, when the party could lose control of Congress.
“Democrats cannot afford to let the perfect be the enemy of the good,” Mr. Ritz said. “It’s long past time for lawmakers to figure out what sustainable, disinflationary fiscal policies can get majority support in both chambers.”
Budget watchdogs, who have spent years warning that the nation is on an unsustainable fiscal path, said they were glad to see Mr. Biden proposing to lower the deficit but found the proposal lacking.
“The goal is good, but the path is suspect,” Robert L. Bixby, the executive director of the Concord Coalition, said in a statement. “The budget assumes, for example, that G.D.P. growth will remain high, that inflation will quickly fade and that interest rates will stay low. This is an unlikely combination of factors.”
Much of the projected deficit reduction would come from $2.5 trillion in higher taxes on corporations and the rich, including a new minimum tax on billionaires. That proposal, which needs congressional approval, would require that American households worth more than $100 million pay a rate of at least 20 percent on their income as well as unrealized gains in the value of their liquid assets, such as stocks and bonds, which can accumulate value for years but are taxed only when they are sold.
The White House also proposed increasing the top marginal income tax rate to 39.6 percent from 37 percent and raising the corporate tax rate to 28 percent from 21 percent. Both proposals seek to reverse some of the tax cuts that Republicans approved in 2017.
Republicans, who have targeted Mr. Biden’s economic prowess ahead of the midterms, assailed the budget as reckless, saying it would exacerbate inflation and deter investment.
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