Economist surprised Trump-era tax break survived Biden budget plan

President Biden surprised some analysts when his $6 trillion 2022 budget proposal didn't touch a 20 percent tax deduction, implemented by Republicans in 2017, for owners of closely held businesses, The Wall Street Journal reports. Biden had campaigned on limiting the break, the Journal notes, but it wasn't mentioned in the proposal, which detailed the White House's first $2.4 trillion worth of net tax increases. The White House has yet to address the matter.

William Gale, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said he was a "frankly … a little surprised that the Biden administration didn't propose curtailing" the deduction, which he said "just seems to be kind of without redeeming qualities."

Kevin Kuhlman, the vice president of government relations at the National Federation of Independent Business, was also prepared for the break's removal, but his best guess as to why it wasn't mentioned is that "there is a sensitivity to direct tax increases on small businesses."

Congressional Democrats have criticized the deduction as "an unnecessary boon to the rich," and it's possible they'll still try to "change this break as a potential alternative way to raise money," the Journal reports. Read more at The Wall Street Journal.