Latest Senate Spending Plan Includes $1.5T in Tax Hikes

The draft also makes changes to a 15% corporate minimum levy on financial profits, known as a minimum "book" tax. The bill includes a measure so that companies won't lose out on tax benefits for contributing to pension plans for workers.

The legislation stops short of including a carveout for asset depreciation, a change some Democrats had sought because of concerns that it would inhibit green energy investment. The corporate minimum tax is largely finalized in this version of the bill, according to a Democratic aide.

The draft made several other changes from the House bill, including eliminating a tax on vaping products. It also includes an election to expand a deduction for corporate debt. The cost would be offset by tightening the rules that restrict U.S. companies from moving offshore to save on their tax liabilities.

Wyden said he is continuing to talk to other Senate Democrats about the merits of a billionaire's income tax, a levy on unrealized gains of the richest Americans. Wyden said that would address a gap in the legislation — and current law — where wealthy Americans can largely grow their fortunes tax free, because the Internal Revenue Service code focuses on taxing income, not unrealized capital gains.

Wyden said he is spending time this weekend trying to persuade his colleagues to include it in the final bill. The idea faced opposition from House Democrats, including House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal, who said he supported the proposal's intent, but that the idea was too new to be added at the last minute.

Nearly 219 economists and professors sent a letter to Wyden and Schumer this week requesting they include the billionaires' tax in the final version of the legislation. They said that failing to include it would "disappoint the millions of voters who support" Biden's pledge to make the wealthy pay their fair share.

The committee's proposal retains a new entitlement program from the House bill for paid medical and family leave for people whose employers don't provide it, although it could be dropped later if Senator Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, objects to it.

The Finance Committee's provision largely mirrors language the House passed last month, which calls for four weeks of compensated time off for nearly all U.S. employees, including part-time and gig workers.

"The committee print is not the final version," said Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat. "It's not over yet."

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