US President Joe Biden on Monday unveiled a budget that includes higher taxes for the wealthiest, lower federal deficits, more money for police and more funding for education, public health and housing.
As Lusa reports, with this plan, Biden seeks to design the political message that his Democratic Party will take to the mid-term elections at the end of this year.
"Budgets are statements of values, and the budget I release today sends a clear message that we value budgetary responsibility, safety and security at home and around the world, and the investments needed to continue our equity, grow, and build a better America," Biden said in a statement quoted by Lusa.
Biden seeks to format a midterm election speech for a nation still searching for balance after years affected by the covid-19 pandemic, an economic recession, a recovery, challenges to democracy, and a war in Ukraine.
Biden's budget plans to cut annual deficits by more than a trillion dollars over the next decade, mostly thanks to higher taxes for higher income people, and an end to welfare spending because of the outbreak of the new coronavirus.
The President proposes $5.8 trillion in federal spending for fiscal year 2023, which begins in October, slightly less than what was projected to be spent this year, and a $1.15 trillion deficit.
In this proposal, there is $795 billion for defense, $915 billion for domestic programs, and the remaining balance goes to mandatory spending such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and net interest on the national debt.
The increase in taxes on large fortunes provided for in this plan will increase tax revenues by $361 billion over 10 years, applying to the 0.01% of wealthiest families.
The proposal lists an additional $1.4 billion in revenue raised over the next decade through other rate increases, which are aimed at preserving Biden's promise not to raise taxes on people earning less than $400,000 annually.
Politically, the 156-page plan reveals the fractures within Biden's base of support in Congress and gaps between his election promises and the reality he now offers Americans.
The proposal includes a 20% minimum tax on household income worth $100 million or more, similar to a proposal that Democrats in Congress began debating late last year and failed to push through in the Senate.
In another important sign, the budget now presented assumes - with a high degree of uncertainty based on forecasts made last November - that inflation - which has reached a 40-year high - should return to normal next year.
The budget forecasts inflation of 4.7% this year and 2.3% in 2023, up from 7% in 2021.
But the truth is that prices continue to rise, in these first two months of 2022, and the invasion of Ukraine by Russia has raised the values of oil and natural gas, threatening to contaminate the entire economy.
Cecilia Rouse, chairwoman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said the administration expects "the economy to normalize" as the country halts new waves of the pandemic, supply chain pressures ease, and "extraordinary measures" of support tied to the new coronavirus stay off budget.