A plan from Senate Democrats offers the clearest picture yet of the penalties that American companies could be paying for shifting profits abroad. In draft legislation released Wednesday, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden outlines his vision for how to reform the global tax system for multinational corporations. Democrats say these businesses have been subject to lax rules that, for decades, have allowed them to shift profits and jobs outside the United States.

"Overhauling the international tax code is central to our efforts to restore fairness," Wyden said in a statement on the legislation, which was co-authored by fellow Finance Committee members Sherrod Brown and Mark Warner. Wyden added that increased corporate-tax levies will "fund critical investments like the paid leave and the expanded child tax credit—Social Security for our children" that Democrats are planning.

The proposal is one legislative piece of a $3.5 trillion tax and spending package that Democrats are now crafting to implement the bulk of President Joe Biden's longer-term economic plans. That process, known as reconciliation, got the green light in House action Tuesday, and is expected to take weeks or months to wrap up.