The bipartisan infrastructure bill approved by the Senate on August 10 includes a number of budget gimmicks that help make it look fully “paid for.” One of the gimmicks is pension smoothing, which allows private companies to make smaller contributions to their defined-benefit pension plans, thereby endangering the plans’ financial viability over time.
The new administration is making a big push to support green energy and lower carbon emissions. But are they doing it the right way?
Debating the issue are Christy Goldfuss, senior vice president for energy and environment at the Center for American Progress, and Alex Brill, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
President Biden’s tax-and-spend infrastructure plan will reduce the competitiveness of U.S. corporations, burden working-class Americans, and discourage the type of private investment in America that fuels economic growth.
President Biden has announced two ambitious, entwined economic policy agendas: raising the corporate tax rate and other taxes on large businesses to pay for a significant increase in spending on a broadly defined set of infrastructure objectives. While the case for at least some increase in infrastructure spending is sound, the case for unwinding the corporate tax reforms enacted in 2017 is not.
