While the Democrats' plan to raise taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations by $2.1 trillion in order to pay for their social policy and climate change package does hit the pocketbooks of those who are well-off, it largely leaves technology typcoons like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk untouched, The New York Times reports Tuesday.

It targets "the merely rich more than the fabulously rich," according to the NYT -- and the bill is the result of more moderate rather than progressive Democrats prevailing. The moderates' aim is "raising tax rates on income rather than targeting wealth itself."

Certainly, there are Democrats, like Dan Kildee, D-Michigan, who sits on the Ways and Means Committee, who welcome a tax increase of any kind, rather than risk defeat of their agenda altogether. "What I don't want is another noble defeat," Kildee says.

Further Changes in the U.S.

The nearly $2.1 trillion increase in personal and corporate taxes that the Biden administration is hoping to pass will advance further changes to education, health care, climate change, paid leave and other issues in America, according to the grey lady -- ignoring the "superrich" and their propensity to exploit tax laws "to pass on a lifetime of gains to their heirs tax-free."

On the other hand, more progressive Democrates, most notably Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, chairman of the Finance Committee, say that passing a law that "really exempts billionaires" would be "a monumental mistake for Congress" to make.

The law would reinstate the top tax rate of 39.6% for those earning more than $450,000 ($400,000 for unmarried individuals), which was in place before former President Donald J. Trump pared that down to 37%, with his tax cuts that were widely celebrated by Republicans.

In addition to the personal and corporate tax increases, the Dems would like to charge a 3% surtax on those with incomes of $5 million or more.