Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said it’s unlikely any Republicans will back President Joe Biden’s $2.3 trillion infrastructure proposal if it includes tax increases.
McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said the measure is already flawed because it dedicates too little to fix crumbling roads and bridges.
The tax increases are a nonstarter with the GOP, he said, because it would involve reversing the 2017 tax cuts that became the party’s signature achievement under the Trump administration.
“It took 30 years to get another comprehensive tax bill after 1986, and I don’t think there’s going to be much of any settlement among Senate Republicans for undoing the 2017 tax bill,” McConnell said after meeting privately with fellow Republicans Tuesday.
Biden and Senate Democrats said they are seeking a bipartisan deal. Biden invited a group of Republicans and Democrats to the White House Monday and plans to meet with another group of lawmakers from both parties next week.
Republicans believe the bill is too expensive and strays far from the goal of fixing the nation’s crumbling roads, bridges, and water infrastructure.
About 6% of the spending is dedicated to traditional infrastructure projects, GOP lawmakers say.
“There is more money in there for electric cars than what most Americans say is infrastructure,” McConnell said.
The tax cuts are the top deal breaker for the GOP.
Biden’s plan would hike the corporate rate from 21% to 28%, partly reversing the 2017 tax cut legislation.
Biden would also broaden the reach of the federal estate tax, lowering the exemption and raising the tax to 40%, which McConnell said could hurt family farms and businesses.
“The point of this is, this tax bill of 2017, undone, would create an extensive loss of jobs in our country, do exactly the wrong thing, and move us in the wrong direction,” McConnell said.
Democrats may have to abandon the 28% corporate tax rate unless they can win over centrist Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia.
Manchin, a Democrat, said he supports an increase to 25%. Democrats cannot lose a single vote in their caucus if they hope to pass the legislation using a budgetary tactic that would require a simple majority, rather than 60 votes, to advance legislation.
Some Republicans may also back a 25% corporate tax rate to pay for infrastructure.
Sen. Mitt Romney, of Utah, told reporters on Monday he is “not wedded” to the current 21% rate but said he prefers imposing new user fees or a higher gas tax.
“If we’re going to be providing a benefit to a particular segment of our society, then that would make sense to consider,” Romney said.
