Biden Will Call for Billionaire Tax, Bigger Levy on Stock Buybacks

President Joe Biden will call for quadrupling the levy on corporate stock buybacks and renew his calls for a minimum tax on billionaires during his State of the Union address Tuesday.

“This minimum tax would make sure that the wealthiest Americans no longer pay a tax rate lower than teachers and firefighters,” the White House said in a preview Monday of the economic aspects of Biden’s speech.

Neither of the tax proposals is likely to gain much support in Congress, where Republicans now control the U.S. House.

The 1% stock buyback tax that was part of Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act went into effect at the start of this year, but it isn’t expected to tamp down corporations’ plans to repurchase their own shares, because the 1% rate is too low to act as a deterrent.

Democrats had hoped that increasing the cost of stock buybacks would prod companies to use their cash on hand to raise workers’ wages or invest in new endeavors, bolstering the economy.