US President Joe Biden’s
administration will include more taxes on the wealthiest Americans in its
2023 budget proposal, due to be released on Monday, US media reported
Saturday.

The “Billionaire Minimum Income Tax” would require the 700 or so American
households worth more than $100 million to pay at least 20 percent on their
full income, the Washington Post and other US media reported, citing a White
House document.

“This minimum tax would make sure that the wealthiest Americans no longer
pay a tax rate lower than teachers and firefighters,” said the document,
cited by the Post.

A study by the Biden administration this autumn found that 400 billionaire
households paid an average of only 8.2 percent in taxes on their income
between 2010 and 2018, a rate often well below that of many American
households.

The tax would also target unrealized gains in the value of liquid assets,
such as stocks, which are not taxed until they are sold.

The new measure, which requires congressional approval to be enacted,
could raise up to $360 billion in new revenue over ten years, the document
cited by the Post said.

A longstanding goal of the political left, the plan could dramatically
change the tax paid by US billionaires.

Tech titan Elon Musk would, for example, have to pay an additional $50
billion in taxes, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos some $35 billion more,
according to calculations by University of California Berkeley economist
Gabriel Zucman, cited by the Post.