Miserable runs continue for Juventus and injury-hit Milan in 0-0 draw in Serie A

MILAN (AP) — AC Milan and Juventus prolonged mediocre runs as they played out a 0-0 draw in Serie A on Saturday.

The result in Turin could leave the Bianconeri nervously looking over their shoulders at the end of the weekend. Juventus remained third but 11 points above seventh-placed Atalanta, which has two games in hand.

Injury-hit Milan was five points above Juventus.

The top five in Serie A qualify for next season’s Champions League. Lazio moved into sixth and within three points of fifth-placed Roma — which plays Napoli on Sunday — with a 1-0 win over relegation-threatened Hellas Verona.

Juventus, coming off draws against Torino and Cagliari, has won just two of its past 13 Serie A matches.

Milan has lost three of its past five in all competitions and endured the humiliation of losing to Inter Milan on Monday and confirming the Nerazzurri as Serie A champions.

Théo Hernandez and Davide Calabria were both sent off in that match so they were suspended along with fellow Milan defender Fikayo Tomori. Goalkeeper Mike Maignan pulled out in the warmup, adding to the Rossoneri’s injury problems.

Behind the decimated defense, stand-in Marco Sportiello was definitely the busier of the goalkeepers and did well to fingertip Dušan Vlahović’s free kick round his left post on the stroke of halftime.

Sportiello did even better after the restart with a fantastic double save to parry, first, a Filip Kostić attempt and prevent Danilo from tapping in the rebound.

Sportiello also kept out Weston McKennie’s header minutes from the end and Milan defender Malick Thiaw cleared Adrien Rabiot’s follow-up off the line.

EX'S GOAL

Lazio and former Verona midfielder Mattia Zaccagni again scored against his old club, just as he did in their first matchup this season.

Zaccagni started and finished the move in the 72nd minute. He won the ball on the halfway line and raced forward and rolled across to Luis Alberto, who threaded the ball back for him to fire in at the near post.

Lazio winger Pedro, who was guilty earlier of a glaring miss, hit the post with a late free kick.

Verona remained three points above the drop zone.

STOPPAGE-TIME DRAMA

Lecce took another small step towards safety after drawing at home to Monza 1-1 with both goals in stoppage time.

Nikola Krstović thought he secured for Lecce a third straight win when he scored in the second minute of stoppage time. But Matteo Pessina levelled from the spot after Lecce defender Lorenzo Venuti handled the ball.

Lecce moved eight points above the drop zone.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Lazio's Pedro, right, misses a scoring chance during the Italian Series A soccer match between Lazio and Hellas Verona in Rome, Saturday, April 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Juventus' Timothy Weah, center, prepares to shoot during a Serie A soccer match between Juventus and Milan at the Allianz Stadium in Turin, Italy, Saturday, April 27, 2024. (Marco Alpozzi/LaPresse via AP)

AC Milan's Rafa Leao looks on during a Serie A soccer match between Juventus and Milan at the Allianz Stadium in Turin, Italy, Saturday, April 27, 2024. (Marco Alpozzi/LaPresse via AP)

Juventus' players are dejected at the end of a Serie A soccer match between Juventus and Milan at the Allianz Stadium in Turin, Italy, Saturday, April 27, 2024. The match ended 0-0. (Marco Alpozzi/LaPresse via AP)

Juventus' coach Massimiliano Allegri encourages his players during a Serie A soccer match between Juventus and Milan at the Allianz Stadium in Turin, Italy, Saturday, April 27, 2024. (Marco Alpozzi/LaPresse via AP)

Juventus' Dusan Vlahovic reacts during a Serie A soccer match between Juventus and Milan at the Allianz Stadium in Turin, Italy, Saturday, April 27, 2024. (Marco Alpozzi/LaPresse via AP)

AC Milan's goalkeeper Marco Sportiello, left, punches away the ball as Juventus' Federico Gatti, center, and AC Milan's Yunus Musah vie for the ball during a Serie A soccer match between Juventus and Milan at the Allianz Stadium in Turin, Italy, Saturday, April 27, 2024. (Marco Alpozzi/LaPresse via AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden White House wants voters to know about its differences with Republicans over taxes, with a top aide making the case for higher rates on corporations and the ultra-wealthy.

Lael Brainard, director of the White House National Economic Council, will deliver remarks at the Brookings Institution on Friday that get at the major tax challenge for whoever wins the November presidential election.

Many of the 2017 income tax cuts signed into law by then-President Donald Trump are set to expire after next year. If all the tax cuts expire, the vast majority of U.S. households would see their payments to the IRS increase. But if all the tax cuts are extended, another $4.6 trillion would be added to the national debt over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Trump, a Republican, says tax increases would destroy the U.S. economy. But President Joe Biden, a Democrat, wants to extend the middle-class tax cuts while raising taxes on highly profitable companies and the richest sliver of Americans.

“The expiration of Trump’s 2017 tax package next year will put tax fairness front and center,” Brainard plans to say, according to draft remarks obtained by The Associated Press. “The president is honoring his ironclad commitment to not raise taxes on anyone making less than $400,000 and will cut taxes further for workers and families, paid for by asking corporations and those at the top to contribute more."

In the draft of her speech, Brainard says the 2017 tax cuts failed to deliver the growth promised by Republicans. She argues that they let wealthy households play by their own special set of rules that helped them pay lower rates than many people with middle-class earnings.

Her speech uses variations on the word “fair” 16 times in what is a clear attempt to raise awareness of the issue, as many voters are more focused on inflation, immigration and foreign policy as major policy challenges for the country.

Trump has argued that the expiration of all of his tax cuts would cause mass layoffs that could permanently cripple the economy. His remarks reflect a belief that growth stems from the choices made by companies and wealthy investors, whereas Biden is betting on growth flowing out of spending by middle-class households that feel more financially secure.

Trump's 2017 overhaul cut the corporate tax rate to 21%, intending to make it more competitive internationally. The law also temporarily cut the income taxes paid by most U.S. households, in part by trimming marginal tax rates and increasing the standard deduction.

As a result of these changes, the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center initially estimated that a family in the 40th to 60th percentile of earners would on average save $930 annually. But someone in the top 1% would get back $51,140 and those in the top 0.1% would save $193,380.

Even though Biden has said he only wants higher taxes on the wealthy and companies, Trump tells his supporters at rallies that his Democratic rival would raise everyone's taxes.

The Republican maintains that the high inflation under Biden as the country recovered from the coronavirus was the equivalent of a tax increase, one he claims would only worsen if Biden stays in the White House.

“Biden wants to raise taxes on top of that (inflation) and raise business taxes, which will lead to the destruction of your jobs and, you know what, ultimately it’s just going to lead to the destruction of the country,” Trump said.

Yet Trump also favors some huge tax increases of his own, having floated a 10% tariff on roughly $3 trillion worth of imports annually.

A March analysis by the liberal Center for American Progress estimated that companies would pass the tariffs directly on to their customers, causing a typical family to pay $1,500 more a year, a de facto tax hike.

Also, extending all of Trump's tax cuts that are set to expire at the end of next year would carry a substantial price tag.

In a report Wednesday, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that extending all the cuts would add an additional $4.6 trillion to budget deficits through 2034. That sum includes the additional interest being paid from the higher national debt.

Brainard in her speech says Biden's tax plan reflects his commitment to “fiscal responsibility.” Still, it's not clear how he would lower the deficit as much as advertised in his budget proposal for the next fiscal year.

Biden's plan from earlier this year assumed all of Trump's tax cuts would expire. That means it does not include the cost of extending the tax cuts for those making under $400,000, a promise that could erode most of the $3.2 trillion worth of deficit reductions in his plan.

“President Biden is trying to have it both ways,” said Brian Riedl, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a former Republican congressional aide. “On the one hand, Biden says he will kill the Trump tax cuts and claim all resulting deficit reduction. But on the other hand, he says he won’t let the tax cuts end for the bottom 98%. And those contradict each other.”

Republicans could also face a problem in continuing the 2017 tax cuts without putting the government's finances in worse shape.

The prospect of higher debt means lawmakers might need to float possible spending cuts, said Paul Winfree, a former deputy director of the Domestic Policy Council during Trump's presidency. Higher debt loads could lead to higher interest rates, which would flow down to consumers in the form of more expensive mortgages and auto loans.

“I just don’t know how we can talk about extending all the cuts without also reducing spending,” said Winfree, president and CEO of the Economic Policy Innovation Center, a think tank. “If the federal government continues to spend money at this rate, it will put continued pressure on interest rates.”

FILE - The Internal Revenue Service 1040 tax form for 2022 is seen on April 17, 2023. The IRS said Friday, April 26, 2024, more than 140,000 taxpayers filed their taxes through its new direct file pilot program. It says the program's users claimed more than $90 million in refunds, saving roughly $5.6 million in fees they would have spent with commercial tax preparation companies. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick, File)

FILE - A sign outside the Internal Revenue Service building is seen, May 4, 2021, in Washington. The IRS said Thursday, May 2, 2024, it's taken steps to address a wide disparity in audit rates between Black taxpayers and others filers. And the agency is more closely examining the returns of larger numbers of wealthy people and major companies. The IRS says in an annual report that it's overhauling compliance efforts as it strives to “hold ourselves accountable to taxpayers we serve.” (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

President Joe Biden delivers remarks on his "Investing in America agenda" at Gateway Technical College, Wednesday, May 8, 2024, in Sturtevant, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)