Biden Breaks $400K Tax Pledge

President Biden signed Democrats’ reckless tax and spend spree into law today, officially breaking Biden’s tax pledge to not raise any tax on any American making less than $400,000 per year.

The legislation raises taxes by more than $750 billion and includes a number of new energy taxes on natural gas production, crude oil and coal that will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher gasoline prices and energy bills. Officials within the Administration have repeatedly admitted taxes that raise consumer energy prices are in violation of President Biden’s $400,000 tax pledge.

Biden Admin Admits Energy Tax Hikes Violate Biden’s $400K Pledge

On February 26 of last year, Biden’s Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg stated:

“The President’s made a commitment that this administration will not raise taxes on people making less than $400,000 a year… so that rules out approaches like the old-fashioned gas tax.”

On May 14 of last year, when asked about a gas tax increase Biden’s Press Secretary Jen Psaki stated:

“The President’s pledge and his commitment, his line in the sand, his red line, whatever you want to call it is that he will not raise taxes for people making less than $400,000 a year. User fees that have been proposed out there would violate that.”

On June 18 of last year, White House spokesman Andrew Bates responded to a question about increasing the federal gas tax:

“The President has been clear throughout these negotiations: He is adamantly opposed to raising taxes on people making less than $400,000 a year…After the extraordinarily hard times that ordinary Americans endured in 2020 — job losses, shrinking incomes, squeezed budgets — he is simply not going to allow Congress to raise taxes on those who suffered the most.”

On June 21 of last year, Biden’s Press Secretary Jen Psaki stated:

“The President’s pledge was not to raise taxes on Americans making less than $400,000 a year.  And the proposed gas tax or vehicle mileage tax would do exactly that.  So that is a nonstarter for him.”

On June 21 of last year, Biden’s Press Secretary Jen Psaki stated:

“An idea that’s been floating around that certainly the president would not support is a gas tax which would raise taxes on people making less than $400,000 a year. We’re just not going to stand for that, and we’re not going to accept that.”

Below are the main energy tax increases in the bill:

$6.5 Billion Natural Gas Tax Which Will Increase Household Energy Bills       

The bill imposes a regressive tax on American oil and gas development. The tax will drive up the cost of household energy bills. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the natural gas tax will increase taxes by $6.5 billion.

A letter to Congress from the American Gas Association warned that the methane tax would amount to a 17% increase on an average family’s natural gas bill. Democrats have included a tax in the bill despite retail prices for energy surpassing multi-year highs in the United States.

$12 Billion Crude Oil Tax Which Will Increase Household Costs

With gas averaging nearly $4.00  per gallon across the country and only weeks removed from record-high prices, Democrats have included a 16.4 cents-per-barrel tax on crude oil and imported petroleum products that will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher gas prices.

As if it weren’t bad enough, Democrats have pegged their oil tax increase to inflation. As inflation increases, so will the level of tax.

The non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) estimates the provision will raise $12 billion in taxes.

$1.2 Billion Coal Tax Which Will Increase Household Energy Bills

The bill would more than double current excise taxes on coal production. Under the Democrat proposal, the tax rate on coal from subsurface mining would increase from $0.50 per ton to $1.10 per ton while the tax rate on coal from surface mining would increase from $0.25 per ton to $0.55 per ton.

JCT estimates that this will raise $1.2 billion in taxes that will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher electricity bills.