Biden’s Tax Whopper He’d raise taxes far higher than they were under Bush or Obama.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/bidens-tax-whopper-11602888777?mod=opinion_lead_pos2
Joe Biden got a pass from the media for the myriad whoppers he told about his policies in Thursday night’s town hall. But one that we can’t let slide was his claim that he only intends to make people earning more than $400,000 “pay what they did in the Bush Administration—39.6%.”
Where to begin? The Bush tax cuts in 2001 and 2003 cut the top individual tax rate to 35% from 39.6%. A 2012 deal between the Obama Administration and House Republicans extended the Bush tax cuts for the middle class while returning the top rate to 39.6% for those earning more than $400,000, plus the 0.9% Medicare surtax imposed by ObamaCare.
Republicans in 2017 lowered the top rate to 37%, and Mr. Biden says he would merely return the rate to where it was before the GOP tax cuts. But that’s before add-ons. He would also restore the Pease deduction limitation for high earners, which tacks on the equivalent of 1.2%.
He also wants to extend the Social Security 12.4% payroll tax to income over $400,000. The current cap is $137,700. Half of the payroll tax is paid by the employer, but economists know it’s still a tax on labor income, which means workers. The top marginal rate would rise to 57% including 3.8% in Medicare taxes, and that’s before state taxes that run as high as 13.3% in California.
Oh, and he’d also raise the tax on the capital gains of high earners to the same rate as wage income, increasing the rate to 43.4% (39.6% plus Medicare 3.8% investment tax) from 23.8%. Mr. Biden on Thursday estimated that these increases on high earners would raise $92 billion, but that’s before they put their tax lawyers to work. It’s also not even a modest down payment on his proposed new spending.
Taxpayers are likely to get the truth about how much Mr. Biden will raise taxes at the same time he’s going to tell us whether he’ll sign legislation letting Democrats pack the Supreme Court—after the election.
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