Treasury announces oversight office for COVID-19 relief programs… Jacob Leibenluft will lead Treasury’s Office of Recovery Programs that will oversee the many COVID-19 relief programs Congress has approved in recent months. Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo says “A new, cohesive model for recovery program implementation at Treasury will help get relief distributed quickly and into the hands of those who need it most.”
…As it continues to disburse payments from the American Rescue Plan. Treasury reported this week that it has distributed 159 million payments totaling over $376 billion since March 12. Over the past week, it disbursed nearly 2 million payments totaling over $3.4 billion.
How can the IRS deliver tax benefits to people experiencing homelessness? TPC’s Elaine Maag writes that using tax credits to provide income security poses a major challenge for people who are homeless or unbanked. She offers one possible solution: “The IRS should consider expanding its use of prepaid low- or no-fee debit cards to deliver tax refunds and the CTC advance payments.”
Could Biden divide his infrastructure plan? Delaware Senator Chris Coons, a close Biden ally, hints he could back a roughly $800 billion bipartisan infrastructure bill that focuses only on new spending for public projects such as roads, bridges, water, and perhaps broadband. Other elements of Biden’s American Jobs Plan, including $400 billion in additional spending for long-term care and some green energy provisions, would be reserved for a second bill that presumably would be approved by Democrats only.
And splitting the difference on a global minimum tax? The Tax Foundation’s Daniel Bunn told Reuters Global Markets Forum that G20 countries could agree to a global minimum corporate tax rate of 15 percent, a compromise between Ireland’s 12.5 percent rate and the United States’ proposed 21 percent rate.
Chamber of Progress: Raise the corporate tax rate. The new tech industry group, funded by the likes of Amazon, Facebook, and Google, supports a corporate tax increase much like what President Biden proposed in his $2 trillion infrastructure plan. Biden would raise the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent to fund the American Jobs Plan. Founder Adam Kovacevich says the Chamber of Progress is open to an unspecified higher tax rate because “these kind of investments are good for American society and for America’s technological leadership in the world.”
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