Sinema backs corporate minimum tax proposal

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) voiced support for a proposal for a minimum tax on corporate profits as her party weighs the measure as a potential revenue raiser for its sweeping social spending plan.

“This proposal represents a commonsense step toward ensuring that highly profitable corporations — which sometimes can avoid the current corporate tax rate — pay a reasonable minimum tax on their profits, just as everyday Arizonans and Arizona small businesses do,” Sinema said in a statement on Tuesday.

The senator added that she looks forward to continuing talks “with the White House and colleagues to expand economic opportunities, retain America’s economic competitiveness and help Arizona families get ahead.”

Statement on Proposed Corporate Minimum Tax pic.twitter.com/tRLMDXLgot

— Kyrsten Sinema (@SenatorSinema) October 26, 2021

A group of senators unveiled legislative text of the proposal on Tuesday afternoon. Under the proposal, a 15 percent minimum tax would be applied to corporate profits reported on financial statements.

Nearly 200 billion-dollar companies would be subject to the tax under the legislation, the senators said. 

The legislation comes after Sinema opposed another Democratic-backed proposal to offset costs for the party’s spending package that involved raising tax rates on corporations and high-income individuals.

Democrats wanted to use revenue raised from the measure to help fund investments for universal pre-K, paid family and medical leave, tuition-free community college, and efforts aimed at combating climate change, among other programs in their massive spending plan.

But a number of popular proposals have been nixed from the bill altogether or will be significantly scaled back as the party trims costs following pushback from Sinema and Sen. Joe Manchin (D W.Va.) over the proposed $3.5 trillion price tag. 

The party hopes to pass the bill using a process called reconciliation, which will let them advance it through the Senate with a simple majority and, therefore, bypass a Republican filibuster. But that means the party will need the vote of every Democrat in the Senate, meaning any single senator could tank the bill.

That has empowered Sinema and Manchin to draw red lines around a number of issues and has forced Democrats to rethink their tax proposal in the face of Sinema’s opposition. 

The party is working quickly to strike a deal this week on an overall framework for the spending bill, which Democratic leaders hope will clear the way for the House to pass a bipartisan infrastructure bill. 

President Biden has said he is hoping for Democrats to reach a deal on the bills, which are central to his economic agenda, before he departs at the end of this week for two global summits in Europe.