Buttigieg says infrastructure plan will cut deficit ‘by year 16’

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Sunday that the Biden administration’s plan for infrastructure reform would pay for itself and begin chipping away at the deficit 16 years after it is passed.

Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Buttigieg told host Chuck Todd that the White House had laid out a “clear vision” for funding the $2.25 trillion proposal, while adding that the administration was open to hearing alternative proposals.

“Across 15 years, it would raise all of the revenue needed for these once-in-a-lifetime investments. So by year 16, you’d actually see this package working to reduce the deficit,” Buttigieg said.

“We’re just asking corporations to pay their fair share at a rate, by the way, that would be lower than it’s been for most of my life,” he continued, referring to an increase in corporate taxes. “Now, again, if folks on [Capitol Hill] have other ideas about how to pay for it, we’re going to be interested to hear those ideas, but there is a clear vision to pay for this bill in full.”

Biden’s plan, unveiled last Wednesday by the president during a speech in Pittsburgh, funds itself mainly by raising the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent, a partial reversal of the 2017 decrease that was central to the GOP’s tax reform plan.

The plan would provide trillions of dollars for projects including road and bridge repair, broadband internet expansion in rural areas, and efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions including support for electric vehicles.

The White House has vowed that no American making under $400,000 a year would pay more in taxes under Biden’s proposal.

“Nobody making under $400,000 a year will have their taxes increased,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in mid-March.