Biden proposes minimum 15 percent tax for corporations: report

President Biden proposed enforcing a minimum corporate tax of 15 percent as a possible way to fund his infrastructure proposal as he and Republican negotiators make a final push for common ground.

The Washington Post reported Thursday that Biden raised the idea during a meeting a day earlier with Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) at the White House. The two are expected to talk again on Friday, though some administration officials have suggested Biden may cut off talks as early as next week if there is not satisfactory progress.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki asserted a push for a minimum corporate tax, or a book tax, was not a new proposal for Biden, pointing to his campaign and the original American Jobs Plan. She also disputed that Biden was abandoning a push to raise the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to pay for infrastructure.

“What the president believes is, one, that corporations can afford to pay a little bit more, and that’s a way that we can pay for a range of the bold proposals that he has put forward,” Psaki said.

“But he also took a look at these proposals, and all of the tax proposals that he has put forward over time, to find a way where there should be pay-fors that, based on their bottom lines, many of the Republican leaders should be able to agree to,” she added.

The White House has repeatedly ruled out using user fees or raising the gas tax to fund an infrastructure bill, saying that would amount to a tax hike on Americans making less than $400,000.

But should Biden come down from his latest $1.7 trillion proposal, it would require less funding to pay for the new spending, leaving open the possibility the White House would agree not to raise the corporate tax. Republicans have balked at an increase in the corporate tax rate, which was slashed under the 2017 tax cut law signed by then-President Trump.

Democrats and Republicans have looked for ways to bridge the gap in their competing infrastructure proposals as they remain billions of dollars apart on a potential price tag.

Biden has expressed flexibility on how to pay for his massive infrastructure plan, but repeatedly stressed that inaction is unacceptable.

The president has long railed against the low amount of taxes some profitable corporations have paid, vowing to close loopholes and make those companies pay their “fair share.”

Updated at 1:50 p.m.