Congressional Democrats are weighing a raft of new taxes to help pay for their $3.5 trillion budget bill that would target corporate bigwigs and the nation’s largest companies that buy back shares.
On a discussion list of several new and expanded potential taxes is a proposal to impose an excise tax on publicly traded companies that repurchase a “significant” amount of stock.
The list, which was obtained by CNBC, also includes a tax on firms with CEO pay that exceeds a to-be-determined ratio to that of the company’s average worker.
A discussion list is a draft of ideas that lawmakers assemble before formally pitching them in the House or Senate. Members of Congress will often circulate a list to determine which, and how many, members of the caucus support aspects of the plan. As such, key details like the threshold at which certain taxes would apply and size of the payment have not yet been ironed out.
The Democrats’ plan also includes taxes related to carbon emissions which would likely be opposed by President Joe Biden and other moderate Democrats.
