Fourth stimulus check update – Two more $1,400 payments could be on the way as lawmakers target company taxes

TWO more stimulus checks could be on the way as lawmakers target company taxes to raise enough cash for the $1,400 payments.

After approving President Joe Biden's $3.5trillion budget plans, Democrats are now set to draft the spending package.

It's likely to be funded by tax hikes on the wealthiest Americans, investors, and large companies, Business Insider reports.

President Joe Biden has proposed a 28 per cent corporate rate - higher than the current 21 per cent level.

And Kyle Pomerleau, a tax expert at the American Enterprise Institute, told NBC News the tax changes could raise $800 billion. 

That's enough money for the government to finance two more $1,400 stimulus checks - similar to the ones most Americans received in the $1.9 trillion Biden stimulus law during the Covid pandemic.

PETITION FOR A FOURTH CHECK

Americans have already received three stimulus checks since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. The latest round, containing checks worth up to $1,400, was sent out in March.

A Change.org petition has over 2.8million signatures urging for a fourth stimulus check of $2,000 for adults and $1,000 for children monthly for the rest of the pandemic.

In May, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said it was up to lawmakers in Congress to decide whether another round of checks would be introduced.

On Friday, Bernie Sanders told a crowd at an outdoor amphitheater in West Lafayette, Indiana: "My Republican colleagues are telling everybody that Bernie Sanders and the Democrats are going to raise taxes."

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"You're right, were gonna raise them on the richest people in this country," he added.

'PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE'

The Vermont senator was noting the difference between the two parties since congressional Republicans in previous years have approved tax cuts for wealthy Americans.

Sanders is making his case based on a budget proposal which promises universal pre-kindergarten and tuition-free community college.

It also expands health care coverage through Medicare, creates pathways to citizenship for millions of immigrants in the country illegally and encourages states to adopt labor-friendly laws.

But Republicans said the plan is loaded with unnecessary spending and tax increases.

"This is the people's budget. This is the budget that will impact tens of millions of lives in this country: the elderly, the children, the working families, the middle class," Sanders said in an interview before Friday's rally.

"Poll after poll shows that the American people want the wealthiest people, large corporations, to pay their fair share."

'CLOSING LOOPHOLES'

Senators Ron Wyden, Mark Warner, and Sherrod Brown have already released a draft framework aimed at ending incentives for companies to move operations out of the United States.

"While working families have struggled to get ahead, companies that saw their taxes cut in half are doing better than ever before, and paying less in taxes than any time since World War II," Wyden said in a statement.

"To right the ship, we’re ending incentives to ship jobs overseas and closing loopholes that allow companies to stash their profits in tax havens."