Five former Treasury secretaries — including Hank Paulson, who served under President George W. Bush — signed a statement strongly backing the “Inflation Reduction Act” brokered by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Joe Manchin (DW.Va.).
Why it matters: The bipartisan support will help the White House and Democrats push back against the Republican contention that millions of Americans who make under $400,000 a year would see their taxes rise.
- The others who signed on are Robert Rubin and Larry Summers (President Clinton), Tim Geithner and Jacob Lew (President Obama).
- Senate votes are expected to begin later this week on the health, climate and tax plan.
“As former Treasury Secretaries of both Democratic and Republican Administrations,” the statement says, “we support the Inflation Reduction Act which is financed by prudent tax policy that will collect more from top-earners and large corporations.
“Taxes due or paid will not increase for any family making less than $400,000/year. And the extra taxes levied on corporations do not reflect increases in the corporate tax rate, but rather the reclaiming of revenue lost to tax avoidance and provisions benefitting the most tributary.
The selective presentation by some of the distributional effects of this bill neglects benefits to middle-class families from reducing deficits, from bringing down prescription drug prices, and from more affordable energy. This legislation will help increase American competitiveness, address our climate crisis, lower costs for families, and fight inflation — and should be passed immediately by Congress.”
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