After passing President Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, Congress is beginning to move on enacting the rest of his “Build Back Better” recovery agenda. This next bill presents a unique opportunity to finally fund long-neglected public investments in infrastructure and scientific research that lay the foundation for robust economic growth. But at a time of skyrocketing budget deficits and rising inequality, lawmakers should also be pursuing changes to our tax code that equitably and efficiently raise enough revenue to fund these and other national priorities.
Unfortunately, Republicans in Congress seem to believe the opposite: on the same day they voted unanimously against giving aid to help lower- and middle-income Americans weather the pandemic, Senate Republicans introduced a bill to cut taxes exclusively for multi-millionaires who inherit their wealth. The GOP’s tone-deaf pursuit of their tax-cuts-at-any-cost agenda is galling: there is simply no good reason that a wealthy heir should pay less in taxes than a middle-class schoolteacher or an entrepreneur who earns their wealth through hard work. Lawmakers should raise taxes on inheritances, not cut them.
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