Biden roasts 55 companies like Nike and FedEx for paying less in taxes than the price of a cup of coffee
- President Joe Biden called out corporations that pay $0 in federal income taxes in a tweet.
- Biden has proposed raising the corporate tax rate to offset infrastructure spending.
President Joe Biden is once again calling out corporations for paying nothing in income tax, comparing their IRS bill to the price of your morning caffeine fix.
"Here's the deal," he wrote on Twitter. "If you spent $3 on your coffee this morning, that's more than what 55 major corporations paid in taxes in recent years. It's wrong - and it's got to change."
The barb comes as Democrats begin to hammer out their final party-line infrastructure package, which would be paid for by increased taxes on corporations and the wealthiest Americans.
To make the case, he's referencing one of his favorite talking points when it comes to the corporate tax: Multinational corporations who paid $0 in income taxes. An April report from the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that 55 corporations including Nike and FedEx paid no federal income taxes on their 2020 profits, despite raking in nearly $40.5 billion in pretax income.
So, for instance, if you ordered a grande version of the infamous TikTok Starbucks white mocha, you'd be shelling out around $7. That's more than those corporations paid in income taxes. Say you went simpler, and ordered a latte; the Starbucks app has the price at $4.75 for a handful of Manhattan locations - and that's without the addition of oat milk, which costs more (much to vegans' chagrin). The ubiquitous pumpkin spice latte, a millennial icon, will run you $5.25 a cup.
"It's just not fair. It's not fair to the rest of the American taxpayers. We're going to try to put an end to this," Biden said in April when he originally proposal a corporate tax hike to 28% from 21%. "Not fleece them - 28%. If you're a mom, a dad, a cop, firefighter, police officer, etc., you're paying close to that in your income tax."
Democrats' most recent proposal would bring the corporate tax rate to 26.5%, a hike that would only apply to firms earning over $5 million.
But even those without such a rarified - or, arguably, fussy - coffee taste would shell out more for a $0.99 gas station coffee than those corporations paid in taxes.