Psaki said at a White House briefing that Biden believes that “those at the top are not doing their part” and “obviously that corporations could be paying higher taxes.”
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Sunday suggested a tax hike could be on the horizon when she said she expects the White House to put forward proposals over time to get deficits under control.
“(Biden) hasn’t proposed a wealth tax but he has proposed that corporations and wealthy individuals should pay more in order to meet the needs of the economy, the spending we need to do, and over time I expect that we will be putting forth proposals to get deficits under control,” Yellen told ABC.
Then-candidate Biden proposed raising the top federal tax rate from 37% to 39.6%, its pre-Trump level. Under his plan, the corporate tax rate would rise from 21% to 28%. He would also establish a 15% minimum book tax and tax increases on international profits.
Psaki said Monday that Biden shares liberal Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s view that “middle class families are paying more than their fair share and those at the top are not doing their part,” when asked if Biden was considering a wealth tax.
Warren pitched the idea of a wealth tax when she was running for president in 2020. Yellen said Sunday that a wealth tax is “something that we haven’t decided yet.”
“President Biden during the campaign proposed a higher tax rate on corporations, on individuals and on payments, capital gains and dividend payments that are received, and those are alternatives that address — that are similar in their impact to a wealth tax,” Yellen told ABC.
CNN’s Katie Lobosco contributed to this report.