The Biden budget's focus on deficit reduction, taxing billionaires is reportedly an overture to Joe Manchin

President Biden on Monday unveiled his budget blueprint for next fiscal year, and he promoted it on social media as "cutting in half the deficit from the last year of the previous administration and delivering the largest one-year reduction in the deficit in U.S. history."

The $5.8 trillion budget would cut the deficit by $1.3 trillion, the White House says. It raises defense spending by 4 percent and non-defense spending by 5 percent, but cuts pandemic emergency spending and raises about $2.5 trillion in new tax revenue, much of it from a new "Billionaire Minimum Income Tax" that would ensure a 20 percent tax on all income, including unrealized capital gains, for Americans with more than $100 million in assets.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.