CNBC host Andrew Ross Sorkin confronted Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on the administration’s plans to tackle inflation during Monday’s “Squawk Box.”
Sorkin brought up the issue of the administration’s plans to raise corporate taxes in light of President Joe Biden’s tweet Friday urging that “the wealthiest corporations pay their fair share” in order to bring down inflation. The host then pressed Buttigieg, arguing that corporate taxes and inflation are two separate issues for the most part.
“Yes, in the immediate term, maybe it will have some impact on inflation,” Sorkin began. “But corporate taxes is a long-term issue, you either do it because you think it’s the right thing to do or the wrong thing to do, not because you’re trying to deal with inflation right this second.”
“A lot of it is what you’re going to do with the revenue and again, we have an agenda to use tax revenue on things that are going to ease inflationary pressures,” Buttigieg replied. “But also, we have a very clear contrast right now. You have Senate Republican proposals that are about raising taxes on the poor and middle class and you have the president’s worldview, which is shared by the majority of Americans, that if anybody needs to be carrying more of the load right now, it is the wealthiest corporations that have become extremely profitable—”
“That’s not how you’re going to solve inflation,” Sorkin interjected. (RELATED: CNBC Host Confronts Pete Buttigieg On Supply Chain Snags, ‘High Tax’ On Middle Class)
“Hold on, this is really important. Corporations that have invoked inflation as an excuse to keep prices high in ways that are not just reflected by the supply picture and are pocketing the difference,” the secretary continued.
Multibillionaire Jeff Bezos debunked Biden’s calls to raise corporate taxes, calling the “mushing” of tax rates and inflation “misdirection.”
“The newly created Disinformation Board should review this tweet, or maybe they need to form a new Non Sequitur Board instead,” Bezos said. “Raising corp taxes is fine to discuss. Taming inflation is critical to discuss. Mushing them together is just misdirection.”
The newly created Disinformation Board should review this tweet, or maybe they need to form a new Non Sequitur Board instead. Raising corp taxes is fine to discuss. Taming inflation is critical to discuss. Mushing them together is just misdirection. https://t.co/ye4XiNNc2v
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) May 14, 2022
Inflation reached its quickest uptick since December 1981 after soaring 8.5% in March. The price of fuel reached a new all-time record of $4.37 per gallon Tuesday.