Wally Adeyemo, the U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary, called for the elimination of corporate subsidies in the United States, including those provided to energy companies. Speaking in New York on Monday, Adeyemo defended President Joe Biden’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2024, emphasizing the importance of achieving fiscal sustainability.
Adeyemo outlined several strategies for fiscal sustainability, including modest tax increases, enhancing tax revenue collections, and identifying cost-cutting measures. The budget proposal aims to increase revenues by eliminating $31 billion in tax preferences and subsidies for oil and gas companies. Biden’s administration argues that these companies have not adequately invested in expanding energy production. The proposal also seeks to continue targeted tax credits for clean-energy investments under the Inflation Reduction Act.
This budget proposal has faced challenges in a divided Congress and follows criticism of large oil companies by the White House for recording record profits while consumers face high energy costs due to the conflict in Ukraine last year.
Adeyemo further defended Biden’s proposal to restore the corporate tax rate to 28%, the level before former President Donald Trump’s tax cuts took effect. He highlighted that even with this adjustment, the effective tax rate would remain lower than during the administrations of both Republican Ronald Reagan and Democrat Bill Clinton.
The Deputy Treasury Secretary expressed interest in engaging with House Republicans on this issue, without providing additional specifics. He also cautioned Republicans against using threats of a government shutdown as a means to achieve their goals, emphasizing the importance of avoiding such disruptions.
