18 FORTUNE DECEMBER 2020 /JANUARY 2021
Only in 2020 would CEOs welcome a new
President who promises to raise their taxes,
intensify business regulation, and massively
empower labor unions.
Yet Big Business is largely bullish on Joe Biden.
Exactly what the President-elect will do, or can do,
once he’s in oce depends heavily on the makeup
of the Senate. That won’t be determined until
the runoff elections for both of Georgia’s seats
on Jan. 5. But Biden has declared several specific
actions he will take if he can. And after 50 years in
public life, his instincts are clear.
The one-sentence
description of Biden’s
economic inclinations is
this: The middle class and
working class should get
more, and the wealthy
should get less. He’s no
socialist; for most of his
political career he’s been
near the center. But in a
major speech last summer
in Dunmore, Pa., a former
coal-mining borough
near his old hometown of
Scranton, he was blunt:“Wall Street bankers and
CEOs didn’t build this
country. You can just look
around your neighborhood
or your kitchen table and
see who built this country.”
The people of Dunmore
are the kind of voters
whose support he has
always sought.
Biden’s leanings are
apparent in the most im-
portant business-related
policy changes he has said
he wants to make:Raise taxes on
companiesBiden has been un-
equivocal on this, saying
that raising taxes will be
a “day one” priority, ef-
fectively undoing Trump’s
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of
2017—if Congress agrees.
The TCJA cut the top cor-
porate tax rate from 35%
to 21%; Biden would raise
it to 28%. He’s also said,
“We’re going to double the
tax on foreign profits so we
don’t encourage people to
leave and build abroad.” At
the same time, he would
offer tax incentives to com-
panies that bring overseas
operations to the U.S.
and make certain green
investments, among other
things. But it’s all off the
table if the Republicans
keep the Senate majority.Strengthen labor
unionsOf all Biden’s policy
prescriptions, this is the
closest to his heart. “I’m
a union guy,” he said
in his first postelection
speech on business and
the economy. “Unions are
going to have increased
power.” He can make that
promise with confidence
because many of his pro-
union changes are within
the authority of regula-
tory agencies, though the
Senate must confirm his
appointees to run them.
He has promised to tilt
the balance of power by
facilitating union organiz-
ing in myriad ways and byTHE BRIEF ECONOMICSPresident-elect Biden
touring metal fabricator
McGregor Industries in
Dunmore, Pa., in July. TIMOTHY A. CLARYAFP VIA GETTY IMAGES