The Associated Press put a clever lead on Washington’s latest spending plan: “Infrastructure was a road to nowhere for former presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama. But Joe Biden believes he can use it to drive America to the future after a dozen years of false starts.”
Biden unveiled on Wednesday a $2.3 trillion plan to upgrade the nation’s infrastructure, although the proposal goes way beyond roads, bridges, water supplies, sewer systems and electrical grids.
The president also envisions using the money to fight climate change, take on racial inequities and invest in manufacturing. It would also “reorient” corporate taxes, as the AP delicately put it, to pay for everything.
Biden promised during the presidential campaign not to raise taxes on anyone earning less than $400,000 a year, which would explain his preference to use higher business taxes to pay for these upgrades.
But Republicans are sure to balk at raising business taxes, especially since they only got reduced during the Trump administration. The former president chimed in Wednesday with a press release that said higher taxes would make the U.S. a less competitive place to do business.
It’s easy to see that while everyone agrees it’s time for an infrastructure upgrade, no one wants to pay for it. This is unacceptable, given that the government’s debt rose by $8 trillion during Trump’s presidency and Biden has already added another $2 trillion to it with his coronavirus stimulus legislation.
That path is not sustainable. The proper way, though more painful, is for everybody to pay something for better infrastructure. The reasoning is simple: Everyone will benefit from the improvements, so everyone ought to contribute.
These payments could take the form of higher fees such as fuel taxes, higher water and sewer rates, higher electricity rates, and higher individual and corporate taxes. As dispiriting as that sounds, it’s a more prudent course than just printing another $2 trillion and expecting our great-grandchildren to foot the bill several decades from now because we refused to even try to pay our own way.
In this more responsible scenario, everybody gives up something. Democrats would be furious that Biden went back on a pledge only to raise taxes on the wealthy. Republicans would defend both the rich and business interests.
But right now, Biden cannot lose a single Democratic vote in the Senate, and some of them already are expressing reservations about the president’s proposals. There is sure to be plenty of horse trading among Democrats, and even more if a few Republicans get involved.
In short, the legislative path to significant infrastructure improvements is exceptionally narrow. Biden has nothing to lose by coming up with multiple tax changes to pay for it.
It’s a big assignment that demands sacrifices from everyone. But Biden promised to embrace this kind of challenge. We shall soon see.
