The daily business briefing: September 14, 2021

1. Democrats unveil tax hikes proposed in spending bill

House Democrats on Monday unveiled details on the tax increases they are proposing to impose on corporations, investors, and high-earning business owners to help pay for their $3.5 trillion spending plan. The proposal would increase the corporate tax rate to 26.5 percent from 21 percent. It also would add a 3-percentage-point surtax for people making more than $5 million. It additionally would hike capital-gains taxes, while leaving out changes to taxation at death that the Biden administration wants. The proposals would raise more than $2 trillion to help cover the spending legislation's expansion of Medicare and other social safety net programs, and measures to fight climate change. Democrats plan a committee vote on the plan this week.

The Wall Street Journal

2. Intuit to buy Mailchimp in $12 billion deal

Intuit on Monday confirmed rumors that it was buying Mailchimp in a $12 billion cash and stock deal. The acquisition will be the biggest to date for Intuit, the parent company of TurboTax and QuickBooks. It will expand the company's reach from finance software into customer-relationship management, potentially allowing the company to sell more services to existing small-business customers. "The real magic is actually in the power of the data," Intuit CEO Sasan Goodarzi told The New York Times. "When we bring the platforms together, I'll actually not only know who I marketed it to, but what you bought when you bought it." Mailchimp has about 13 million users globally, and 800,000 paid customers.

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The New York Times TechCrunch

3. Toyota calls increasing tax credits for union-made EVs 'biased'

Toyota on Monday sent a letter to the House Ways and Means Committee's leaders calling for the panel to reject a proposal to expand tax credits to union-made electric vehicles. The proposal, which House Democrats introduced on Friday, seeks to increase tax credits for electric vehicles from $7,500 to $12,500 if they are union-made, according to Reuters. Toyota said the legislation was "blatantly biased," arguing that its benefits and compensation were "competitive" to those at companies with union workers. The Japanese automaker also said that "an EV made by autoworkers who choose to unionize does not make that vehicle any better for the environment." The committee is expected to vote on the proposal Tuesday.

The Hill

4. Stock futures rise ahead of inflation data

U.S. stock index futures edged higher early Tuesday after the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained on Monday, snapping a five-day losing streak. Futures tied to the Dow and the S&P 500 were up by about 0.2 percent several hours before the opening bell. Futures for the tech-heavy Nasdaq were flat. The Dow rose by 0.8 percent on Monday. The S&P 500 rose by 0.2 percent. The Nasdaq dropped by less than 0.1 percent, its fourth straight day of losses. Investors on Tuesday will be watching new inflation data expected to show inflation remained high in August, which could factor into the Federal Reserve's plans on tapering the bond purchases and near-zero interest rates it has been using to boost the economic recovery during the coronavirus pandemic.

CNBC The Wall Street Journal

5. Report says climate change could force millions to move

A World Bank report released Monday found that climate change could force more than 200 million people to leave their homes over the next three decades. The Groundswell report, in its second part, looked at the impact of gradual climate change on water scarcity, falling crop yields, and rising sea levels, and found that rising temperatures could trigger a wave of "climate migrants," depending on different levels of development and climate action. Up to 216 million people could be pushed to move within their own countries in the six regions analyzed in the report — Latin America; North Africa; Sub-Saharan Africa; Eastern Europe and Central Asia; South Asia; and East Asia and the Pacific. Even the most climate-friendly scenario could result in 44 million climate migrants.

The Associated Press