AP Photo/Susan Walsh
- Senate Democrats will likely seek a 25% corporate tax rate, Axios reported.
- It's lower than the 28% Biden sought to pay for his $2 trillion infrastructure bill.
- The current corporate tax rate is 21% after Trump slashed it from 35% in 2017.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
Senate Democrats will likely seek a 25% corporate tax rate, people close to talks told Axios.
That's lower than the 28% rate President Joe Biden has proposed, which he said would pay for his $2 trillion infrastructure plan.
The current corporate tax rate in the US is 21%.
Biden repeated his call for the 28% rate in a speech earlier this month while pitching the infrastructure plan, saying it would level the playing field after former president Donald Trump cut the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% in 2017.
"I'm not trying to punish anybody, but damn it, maybe it's because I come from a middle-class neighborhood, I'm sick and tired of ordinary people being fleeced," Biden said.
He also criticized companies that pay little to nothing in federal taxes, citing a recent report that found 55 companies paid $0 in income taxes last year, including Nike and FedEx.
"It's just not fair. It's not fair to the rest of the American taxpayers. We're going to try to put an end to this," he said.
Biden added he would be "wide open" to negotiating a lower rate.
White House officials and business groups told Reuters earlier this month that Biden, lawmakers, and corporations could come to an agreement on the 25% rate.
By changing the rate from 21% to 25%, the US would raise $600 billion in 15 years, Axios reported.
However, it would not be enough to fund Biden's $2 trillion American Jobs Plan, which he said would be funded in 15 years by the 28% rate hike, in addition to a 21% global minimum corporate income tax and tax credits for companies that onshore jobs.