President Obama will call on the Republican-controlled Congress to raise taxes on the wealthiest taxpayers and the largest financial firms in Tuesday's State of the Union Address, The New York Times reports.
The president's plan would raise $320 billion over the next decade, the Times reports. The revenue would cover his recently-announced initiative to offer two years of tuition-free community college to all students "willing to work for it." The White House said this would cost $60 billion over 10 years.
The plan to raise taxes would eliminate what advisers called the "trust-fund loophole," a provision protecting hundreds of billions of dollars in inherited assets from taxation every year, the Times reported. Also, banks with assets greater than $50 billion would be subject to a new fee.
According to the Times, all of these changes would finance tax breaks for middle-income earners, "including a $500 credit for families in which both spouses work; increased child care and education credits, and incentives to save for retirement."
The plan would also raise the top capital-gains tax rate for couples with annual incomes greater than a half-million dollars to 28 percent from 23.8 percent. Incidentally, the Associated Press reports, this is the same level as under President Ronald Reagan.
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