By Randy DeSoto
Remember former President Barack Obama’s famous pledge in his push to pass the Affordable Care Act: “If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan”?
He said variations of it dozens of times over the course of 2009 and 2010 while pitching Obamacare to the American public.
In 2013, after provisions of the law were implemented and millions of people saw their health care plans go away, PolitiFact named the promise the “Lie of the Year.”
President Joe Biden appears to have taken a page from his old boss’ playbook as he attempts to sell the “Build Back Better” proposal, which would launch several new open-ended entitlement programs.
His consistent talking point has been that those making under $400,000 a year will not see their taxes go up. The White House has the pledge right on its website along with the pronouncement that the wealthy will finally pay their “fair share” under the plan.
In Scranton, Pennsylvania, last month, Biden said, “I guarantee you that no one making under $400,000 a year will see one single penny in tax go up. Not one.”
In fact, he described his plan as “a tax cut for working-class people.”
Well, an analysis by the left-leaning Tax Policy Center found that “roughly 20 percent to 30 percent of middle-income households would pay more in taxes in 2022” under Build Back Better.
The group estimated that the tax increase for low- and middle-income Americans would not be substantial — $100 or less per year. Those making $200,000 to $500,000 would pay an additional $230 per year.
That, of course, is an increase of more than a penny and certainly isn’t a tax cut.
But here’s the kicker, after all Biden’s pontificating about the rich paying their “fair share”: Build Back Better — again, according to the liberal Tax Policy Center — actually lowers the tax burden on many of the wealthiest Americans.
You ask, “How can this be? Democrats are all about socking it to the rich.”
It all comes down to a provision in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed under former President Donald Trump that set a $10,000 cap on deductions that wage earners can take for state and local taxes when calculating their federal income tax payment. They’re known as SALT deductions.
Wealthy people in blue states with high income taxes like New Jersey, California and New York saw their tax bills go up when the new SALT cap went into effect after 2017.
“Wait,” you say, “I thought the Trump tax cuts were a giveaway to the rich.” That was a false talking point propagated by Biden, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Build Back Better benefits many high-income earners by taking the SALT deduction cap up to $80,000.
“The higher SALT cap would boost after-tax incomes by 1.2 percent for those making between about $370,000 and $870,000 (the 95th to 99th percentile),” according to the Tax Policy Center.
So Biden is lying. Build Back Better would raise taxes on many making less than $400,000 while easing the tax burden on the well-to-do, primarily in blue states.
But there’s another important aspect of the legislation that would hit Americans’ wallets across the board: a tax hike on corporations, reportedly from 21 percent to 26.5 percent.
The White House has claimed that the tax increase will not result in companies raising the prices for their wares.
Then-President Ronald Reagan explained in 1981 why this is not true.
“Some say, ‘Shift the tax burden to business and industry,’ but business doesn’t pay taxes,” he said.
“Oh, don’t get the wrong idea. Business is being taxed, so much so that we’re being priced out of the world market. But business must pass its costs of operations — and that includes taxes — on to the customer in the price of the product. Only people pay taxes, all the taxes,” Reagan continued.
“Government just uses business in a kind of sneaky way to help collect the taxes. They’re hidden in the price; we aren’t aware of how much tax we actually pay.”
Don’t be fooled. Build Back Better would result in a tax increase for many hard-working Americans while giving a break to Biden’s favored wealthy elite.
Author: Randy DeSoto
Source: Western Journal: Biden Lied: Build Back Better Spending Plan Will Raise Taxes on Middle-Class Americans