After previously criticizing plans for a proposed tax on billionaires, Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, may have and changed course this week.
According to a Christmas Eve report in The Washington Post, Manchin told the White House last week that he would support including some version of a tax on billionaire wealth in the $2 trillion Build Back Better economic agenda slated for a vote next month. Three people familiar with the matter requested to remain anonymous, said the outlet.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, has proposed a tax aimed at the accrued wealth of the approximately 700 billionaires in the U.S. It is estimated to raise up to $550 billion over the next decade and would pay for 25 percent of the Build Back Better initiatives.
Sources said Manchin included the tax on billionaire wealth as an option toward the bottom of a list he provided regarding the Build Back Better legislation, which he told Fox News last Sunday he would not support.
However, inclusion of the measure indicates there could be hope for the economic agenda and common ground with President Joe Biden. Apart from the billionaire tax, Manchin also has reservations about spending measures in the bill he believes would trigger inflation and increase the national debt.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat from Arizona, also presents a roadblock for the legislation and she previously refused to include increases to the corporate tax rate.
Representatives for Manchin and Sinema declined to comment to the Washington Post, along with the White House.
Other Democrats have also had a lukewarm reception to the billionaire tax. For example, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, expressed concerns that it was drafted too quickly.
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