Some Democrats call for higher taxes on Wall Street profits

Pelican Press · June 13, 2024

Some Democrats call for higher taxes on Wall Street profits

Senator Chuck Grassley, a *********** from Iowa and ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, during a hearing in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, March 12, 2024.

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As Congress wrestles with a looming decision over trillions in expiring tax breaks, lawmakers and experts in a Senate Budget Committee hearing debated several Democratic proposals for higher taxes on corporations and wealthy Americans.

Proponents said the plans aim to address income inequality and the federal budget deficit.

Some of the debate included scrutiny of the corporate tax rate, stock buybacks, capital gains tax rates and levies on profits for private equity and hedge fund managers, known as carried interest. They also discussed taxes on unrealized gains, or profits on unsold assets, among other proposals.

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Higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy would “create a more equitable tax system which generates substantially more revenue and promotes growth,” Joseph Stiglitz, professor of economics at Columbia University, said in prepared testimony.

However, many of these proposals, such as reforms to carried interest, have ******* to gain broad support even among Democrats, said Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.

While carried interest reform was originally included in the Inflation Reduction Act, those changes were removed before the bill passed in the Senate.

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said most of the proposed tax increases discussed during the hearing would have “unintended consequences” for the economy.