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We will finish the job. |
And we pay for these investments in our future by finally making the wealthiest and the biggest corporations begin to pay their fair share. |
I’m a capitalist. But just pay your fair share. |
And I think a lot of you at home agree with me that our present tax system is simply unfair. |
The idea that in 2020, 55 of the biggest companies in America made $40 billion in profits and paid zero in federal income taxes? |
That’s simply not fair. |
But now, because of the law I signed, billion-dollar companies have to pay a minimum of 15%. |
Just 15%. |
That’s less than a nurse pays. Let me be clear. |
Under my plan, nobody earning less than $400,000 a year will pay an additional penny in taxes. |
Nobody. Not one penny. |
But there’s more to do. |
Let’s finish the job. Reward work, not just wealth. Pass my proposal for a billionaire minimum tax. |
Because no billionaire should pay a lower tax rate than a school teacher or a firefighter. |
You may have noticed that Big Oil just reported record profits. |
Last year, they made $200 billion in the midst of a global energy crisis. |
It’s outrageous. |
They invested too little of that profit to increase domestic production and keep gas prices down. |
Instead, they used those record profits to buy back their own stock, rewarding their CEOs and shareholders. |
Corporations ought to do the right thing. |
That’s why I propose that we quadruple the tax on corporate stock buybacks to encourage long term investments instead. |
They will still make a considerable profit. |
Let’s finish the job and close the loopholes that allow the very wealthy to avoid paying their taxes. |
Instead of cutting the number of audits of wealthy tax payers, I signed a law that will reduce the deficit by $114 billion by cracking down on wealthy tax cheats. |
That’s being fiscally responsible. |
In the last two years, my administration cut the deficit by more than $1.7 trillion – the largest deficit reduction in American history. |
Under the previous administration, America’s deficit went up four years in a row. |
Because of those record deficits, no president added more to the national debt in any four years than my predecessor. |
Nearly 25% of the entire national debt, a debt that took 200 years to accumulate, was added by that administration alone. |
How did Congress respond to all that debt? |
They lifted the debt ceiling three times without preconditions or crisis. |
They paid America’s bills to prevent economic disaster for our country. |
Tonight, I’m asking this Congress to follow suit. |
Let us commit here tonight that the full faith and credit of the United States of America will never, ever be questioned. |
Some of my Republican friends want to take the economy hostage unless I agree to their economic plans. All of you at home should know what their plans are. |
Instead of making the wealthy pay their fair share, some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset every five years. |
That means if Congress doesn’t vote to keep them, those programs will go away. |
Other Republicans say if we don’t cut Social Security and Medicare, they’ll let America default on its debt for the first time in our history. |
I won’t let that happen. |
Social Security and Medicare are a lifeline for millions of seniors. |
Americans have been paying into them with every single paycheck since they started working. |
So tonight, let’s all agree to stand up for seniors. Stand up and show them we will not cut Social Security. We will not cut Medicare. |
Those benefits belong to the American people. They earned them. |
If anyone tries to cut Social Security, I will stop them. And if anyone tries to cut Medicare, I will stop them. |
I will not allow them to be taken away. |
Not today. Not tomorrow. Not ever. |
Next month when I offer my fiscal plan, I ask my Republican friends to offer their plan. |
We can sit down together and discuss both plans together. |
My plan will lower the deficit by $2 trillion. |
I won’t cut a single Social Security or Medicare benefit. |