A stimulus surprise in the works?
If you’ve been holding out for a second stimulus check, here’s something to put a grin on your face—Democrats are making a humongous tax reform that would raise the cash to pay for two $1,400 stimulus checks in 2026. No joke. That’s $2,800 in your pocket—if everything falls into place.
But hold just a minute.
Where will the money come from?
In order to cover the cost of these checks and these other social programs, Democrats are calling for a round of tax hikes—but fear not, they’re not coming for you. Here’s who would be targeted:
- Big corporations
- The richest Americans
- Investors with big gains
President Biden proposed raising the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%, undoing half of the tax cut that Donald Trump enacted in 2017. But some centrist Democrats, including Senator Joe Manchin, report that they like a 25% rate. So fights are being waged.
Here’s the fun part: If these changes go through, experts say the tax reform could raise $800 billion. That’s enough to fund two rounds of $1,400 stimulus checks, just like the ones Americans got during the pandemic.
Even if you’re not a policy nerd, it’s easy to appreciate the math here:
- $800 billion raised
- Divided across roughly 260 million adults
- That’s about $1,400 each, twice
What else could this pay for?
The money wouldn’t just be directed towards stimulus checks. Democrats are looking to use the money on:
- Universal Pre-K
- Free college for the community
- Reinstating the child allowance that helped millions of families with the basics during the pandemic
So, not always the quick fix—it could even pay for long-term programs helping kids, students, and working families.
Most important tax reform provisions
This is what’s in the plan so far:
- Higher foreign profit taxes on American corporations based overseas
- Country-by-country taxation as opposed to a percentage rate
- Erasure of loopholes that enable companies to stash their profits abroad
- Global corporate minimum tax of 15% to stem large companies from tax evasion by jumping across borders
The motivation for making these tax alterations is Senators Ron Wyden (Oregon), Mark Warner (Virginia), and Sherrod Brown (Ohio). They say it’s time for companies to cease outsourcing jobs overseas simply to lower their tax bills.
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Just the facts
- Senator Joe Manchin’s bill would raise $800 billion with these tax measures
- Enough to cover two $1,400 checks
- Stimulus checks may be coming as early as 2026
- The bill still needs to receive the support of moderate Democrats
- Republicans will inevitably vote down the package in its entirety
Now it isn’t over till it’s over. Still lots of bickering in Congress, especially within the Democrats themselves. But if they can pull it together, you might be holding a second check in your bank account in 2026. And at times like these, that’s some plain fine news. Perhaps not.
Read this later:
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So wait it out. The wheels of government grind slowly, but occasionally in your direction.
