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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.