'I don't hate millionaires,' Joe Biden says as he announces tax hike to pay for $3tn infrastructure plan

Joe Biden has defended his proposal to fund $2 trillion (£1.6trn) infrastructure works by raising taxes on large companies and wealthy Americans, telling them it was time to pay their fair share, in an address setting out his vision for the country's economy.

The US president on Wednesday said the upgrades will generate millions of jobs, revitalise the US economy and help Washington compete with China.

"It's a once-in-a-generation investment in America, unlike anything we've seen or done," the president said at the launch of the first stage of his Build Back Better programme in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. "It's big, yes. It's bold, yes. And we can get it done."

Putting infrastructure at the centerpiece of the president's economic agenda, it calls for the injection of $620 billion into transport, including upgrading 20,000 miles of roads, repairing thousands of bridges and doubling funding for public transport.

Mr Biden plans to pay for his proposal by raising corporate taxes and taxes on high earners.

"No one making under $400,000 will see their federal taxes go up, period," Mr Biden said to a crowd at a carpenters training facility. "This is not penalising people. I have nothing against millionaires and billionaires. I believe in American capitalism," he said.

He said major US companies like Amazon use loopholes to pay "not a single, solitary penny" in federal income tax. "This is wrong," he added.

The president's proposal was greeted icily by conservatives and major business groups.

"If it’s going to have massive tax increases and trillions more added to the national debt, it’s not likely," said Republican Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, one day after Mr Biden called to brief him on the proposal.

Mr Biden is ignoring a campaign promise to raise taxes on wealthy individuals, at least for now, with none of the expected increases in the top marginal rate or capital gains tax.

Mr Biden said the goal was not to "target" the wealthy but to address divisions and inequality worsened by the pandemic.

The plan would spread the cost for projects over an eight-year period and aims to pay for it all over 15 years, without adding to the country's debt in the long run, a senior administration official said.

White House officials say the spending would generate those jobs as the country shifts away from fossil fuels and combats the perils of climate change. It is also an effort to compete with the technology and public investments made by China, which has the world's second-largest economy and is fast gaining on the United States' dominant position.

"I'm convinced that if we act now, in 50 years people are going to look back and say this is the moment when America won the future," Mr Biden said.