Alanna Gillis 

Opinion Editor

amg7393@psu.edu

On Monday, March 28, President Biden announced his proposal of a new tax on American households. The administration wants to impose a 20 percent minimum tax on households that are worth more than $100 million. The plan is called the “billionaire minimum income tax”. 

According to a factsheet released by the White House, the proposed tax would raise over $360 billion over the next decade. Also according to that factsheet, it would ensure that “the wealthiest Americans no longer pay a tax rate lower than teachers and firefighters.” 

The fact that only now will people who make astronomical amounts of money be taxed somewhat fairly is crazy. Especially when in the past, they have been taxed less than firefighters and teachers, who are often overworked and undercompensated. This type of tax is long since overdue. 

If anything put into perspective the need for a tax like this, it was the coronavirus pandemic. The factsheet notes that in 2021 alone, the more than 700 American billionaires saw their wealth increase by $1 trillion, yet in a typical year, billionaires like these would pay just 8% of their total realized and unrealized income in taxes.” For reference, in the example of the firefighter and the teacher, they could pay double that tax rate. 

The Biden administration has done the calculations, and the proposed tax would affect only the top 0.01 percent of American households. More than half the revenue would come from households worth more than $1 billion. Contrary to some discourse I have seen online, this tax is not unfair to middle America, and neither is it unfair to the people it is taxing. For too long billionaires have stood on the backs of their workers and exploited both the people and the system. This tax is the first step in evening an already unfair system. 

There are many other things that Biden’s budget proposal for 2023 allocates funds for. He has set billions aside for the police and the military, as well as for investments in affordible housing. He plans to use some of the money raised to tackle the supply issues in the United States as well as gun violence. 

My hope, at least for the funds allocated to police around the country, is that the money will be used for better training and the implementation of mental health officers to police forces. After the incredibly disgusting displays of police brutality that have taken place over the last few years, and the protests and valid possible fixes raised by concerned citizens, it is time that the police budgets around the country are used for more than weapons and vehicles. 

Of his budget, Binden stated, “Budgets are statements of values, and the budget I am releasing today sends a clear message that we value fiscal responsibility, safety and security at home and around the world, and the investments needed to continue our equitable growth and build a better America.” 

If we can’t eat the rich, we might as well tax them.