Here’s Every Democrat Who Supports Ocasio-Cortez’s Crazy “Green New Deal”
This post is updated regularly by ATR and was last updated on 3/12/2019.
Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has finally made the details of the “Green New Deal” public. The highlights include ending the use of fossil fuels by 2030, decommissioning every nuclear power plant in the next ten years, ending air travel, mandating all new jobs be unionized, rebuilding “every building in US for state-of-the-art energy efficiency” and blanket “economic security for all who are unable or unwilling to work.”
Now that the outline of the “Green New Deal” is available for public scrutiny, it is worthwhile to take a look at all of our lawmakers who have endorsed Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal. According to the Sunrise Movement – the outside organization advocating for the “Green New Deal” – more than 100 congressional Democrats have agreed to cosponsor Ocasio-Cortez’s resolution for a Green New Deal. Ten Democrats who have announced their bid for the 2020 presidential elections have also backed the Green New Deal.
Below is the complete list of Democrats who have embraced the Green New Deal.
Presidential Candidates:
- Sen. Kamala Harris (CA)
- Sen. Elizabeth Warren (MA)
- Sen. Cory Booker (NJ)
- Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (NY)
- Sen. Amy Klobuchar (MN)
- Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT)
- Gov. Jay Inslee (WA) - Inslee said he "welcomes" the Green New Deal but it was "not a policy document" and that he will issue his own policies to "put meat on the bones."
- Entrepreneur Andrew Yang - "Aligned and on Board."
- Former HUD Secretary Julian Castro
- Mayor Peter Buttigieg (South Bend, IN)
- Former Representative Beto O'Rourke- who believes that climate change could "at its worst, lead to extinction"
- Kamala Harris (CA)
- Richard Blumenthal (CT)
- Chris Murphy (CT)
- Mazie Hirono (HI)
- Elizabeth Warren (MA)
- Ed Markey (MA)
- Cory Booker (NJ)
- Kirsten Gillibrand (NY)
- Ron Wyden (OR)
- Jeff Merkley (OR)
- Amy Klobuchar (MN)
- Bernie Sanders (VT)
- Raul Grijalva (AZ-03)
- Jared Huffman (CA-02)
- John Garamendi (CA-03)
- Mike Thompson (CA-05)
- Doris O. Matsui (CA-06)
- Mark DeSaulnier (CA-11)
- Barbra Lee (CA-12)
- Jackie Speier (CA-14)
- Eric Swalwell (CA-15)
- Ro Khanna (CA-17)
- Anna Eshoo (CA-18)
- Zoe Lofgren (CA-19)
- Jimmy Panetta (CA-20)
- Salud Carbajal (CA-24)
- Judy Chu (CA-27)
- Adam Schiff (CA-28)
- Brad Sherman (CA-30)
- Grace Napolitano (CA-32)
- Ted Lieu (CA-33)
- Jimmy Gomez (CA-34)
- Karen Bass (CA-37)
- Linda Sanchez (CA-38)
- Mark Takano (CA-41)
- Maxine Waters (CA-43)
- Nanette Barragan (CA-44)
- Alan Lowenthal (CA-47)
- Mike Levin (CA-49)
- Juan Vargas (CA-51)
- Joe Neguse (CO-02)
- John Larson (CT-01)
- Joe Courtney (CT-02)
- Rosa Delauro (CT-03)
- Jahana Hayes (CT-05)
- Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC-AL)
- Alcee L. Hastings (FL-20)
- D. Mucarsel-Powell (FL-26)
- Chuy Garcia (IL-04)
- Mike Quigley (IL-05)
- Danny K. Davis (IL-07)
- Jan Schakowsky (IL-09)
- Chellie Pingree (ME-01)
- John Sarbanes (MD-03)
- Elijah Cummings (MD-07)
- Jamie Raskin (MD-08)
- Jim McGovern (MA-02)
- Lori Trahan (MA-03)
- Joe Kennedy III (MA-04)
- Katherine Clark (MA-05)
- Seth Moulton (MA-06)
- Ayanna Pressley (MA-07)
- Stephen F. Lynch (MA-08)
- Bill Keating (MA-09)
- Andy Levin (MI-09)
- Rashida Tlaib (MI-13)
- Betty McCollum (MN-04)
- Wm. Lacy Clay (MO-01)
- B. Watson Coleman (NJ-12)
- Deb Haaland (NM-01)
- Tom Suozzi (NY-03)
- Gregory Meeks (NY-05)
- Grace Meng (NY-06)
- Nydia Velázquez (NY-07)
- Yvette D. Clarke (NY-09)
- Jerrold Nadler (NY-10)
- Carolyn Maloney (NY-12)
- Adriano Espaillat (NY-13)
- Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14)
- Jose E. Serrano (NY-15)
- Eliot Engel (NY-16)
- Nita Lowey (NY-17)
- Sean P. Maloney (NY-18)
- Brian Higgins (NY-26)
- David E. Price (NC-04)
- Alma S. Adams (NC-12)
- Gregorio Sablan (MP-AL)
- Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01)
- Earl Blumenauer (OR-03)
- Peter DeFazio (OR-04)
- Brendan Boyle (PA-02)
- David Cicilline (RI-01)
- Steve Cohen (TN-09)
- Veronica Escobar (TX-16)
- Joaquin Castro (TX-20)
- Lloyd Doggett (TX-20)
- Peter Welch (VT-AL)
- Bobby Scott (VA-03)
- Gerald E. Connolly (VA-11)
- Pramila Jayapal (WA-07)
- Adam Smith (WA-09)
- Mark Pocan (WI-02)
These Representatives have also voiced public support:
- John Lewis (GA-05)
- Ilhan Omar (MN-05)
Photo Credit: Flickr
More from Americans for Tax Reform
How Biden's Capital Gains Tax Rate Hike Targets Hard Working Americans
President Biden has vowed to nearly double the capital gains tax 39.6%, the highest rate since Jimmy Carter in 1977. This will impose a capital gains tax rate twice as high as communist China, and it will hit Americans who have worked hard and lived modestly for decades.
For example, the Wall Street Journal interviewed Kentucky resident Paul Settle, who will get whacked with a $390,000 Biden capital gains tax hike:
Five brick apartment buildings in this horse-country town make up Paul Settle’s retirement nest egg. He purchased the complex 27 years ago and has spent almost every day since tidying the grounds, repairing garbage disposals and collecting rent checks.
Mr. Settle, 64 years old, pays himself about $75,000 a year. The idea was always to one day sell and retire off the proceeds.
But now his plans are on hold. The Biden administration’s tax proposal would increase the capital-gains taxes Mr. Settle would pay on the sale of the apartments, which he expects to fetch over $2 million. Mr. Settle’s tax adviser estimates the changes could halve his after-tax proceeds to about $400,000 after paying off the mortgage.
“I’m in limbo,” he said.
--
Mr. Settle used a mortgage to buy the apartments in Versailles (pronounced “Ver-sayles”) for $1.3 million in 1994, seven years after they were built. The complex sits next to a large park in a quiet residential neighborhood with single-family homes. It isn’t far from the former orphanage where his father grew up.
Settle does the repairs and cleans the apartments himself:
He visits the apartments daily, sweeping the laundry room before working on repairs and grabbing a fast-food lunch. He still cleans each unit himself when a tenant moves out.
This spring, he saw a television segment on the proposed increase in capital-gains rates. He thought it might not apply to him, but called his tax adviser to be sure. Mr. Settle, who voted for Mr. Biden, was stunned to learn the extent of the hit.
Eyeing retirement, Settle looked to sell the apartments but learned the Biden plain would cost him an additional $390,000 in taxes:
Under current rates, Mr. Settle’s tax adviser estimates that he would pay just under $500,000 in federal taxes on such a sale. That would leave him with about $800,000 after paying the mortgage, state and local taxes. Under the Biden plan, Mr. Settle would owe around $390,000 more in taxes, leaving him with about $400,000, his tax adviser estimates.
--
Anything close to $400,000 won’t be enough to retire on, he said, especially if he inherits his father’s longevity.
For now, Mr. Settle continues his daily rounds.
There are hard working people like Mr. Settle in every town in America who quietly work and save for decades to build up a retirement nest egg. They are the backbone of Main Street and the small business community. Biden and congressional Democrats are targeting them for a tax increase and dismissing them as something resembling Scrooge McDuck and Rich Uncle Pennybags.
Under Biden’s plan many taxpayers will pay a capital gains rate higher than 50%:
Californians will pay a top capital gains tax rate of 56.7 percent (39.6% + 3.8% NIIT + 13.3% CA state rate).
New Yorkers will pay a top capital gains rate of 52.2%
New Jersey taxpayers will pay a top capital gains tax rate of 54.14%.
Biden's plan will wallop America just as the country is trying to dig out from the pandemic. The plan also puts the USA at a competitive disadvantage vs. our economic competitors.
When comparing Biden's capital gains tax plan to China, the state capital gains tax burden must be included.
China's Capital Gains Rate: 20%
United States Under Biden Plan: 48.8% (39.6% + 3.8% Obamacare tax + 5.4% state average)
Photo Credit: Phil Roeder
Democrat Heidi Heitkamp Opposes Biden's Plan to Kill Stepped-Up Basis
Prominent farm-state leader Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), a former U.S. Senator who endorsed Joe Biden for President, has come out in opposition to President Biden's plan to kill stepped-up basis.
As reported today in The Hill:
Former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) is leading a new effort to push back against proposals to tax capital gains at death, as the Biden administration and Democratic lawmakers seek to make such a change to help pay for their spending priorities.
“I think it’s wrong as a matter of economics, looking at middle class families, but I also think that for the Democratic Party, this is a path that should not be walked politically,” Heitkamp said in a phone interview with The Hill.
Heitkamp, who served in the Senate from 2013-2019, is chair of a new nonprofit called Save America’s Family Enterprises (SAFE), which is launching a six-figure ad campaign.
Biden has arrogantly dismissed stepped-up basis as just a "little thing" he wants to eliminate.
But Heitkamp noted one of the many ways the Biden proposal would hit farmers:
“Now that we see an emerging entrepreneurial class within the Hispanic community and within the African American community, they won’t be able to take advantage of these tax rules that will allow them to grow their business and keep capital in their business,” she said.
Heitkamp also said that taxing capital gains at death carries political risks for Democrats, referencing a poll SAFE conducted that found that more voters were opposed to a bill on this topic than supported it.
“I think it won’t be well-received by the public,” she said.
House Agriculture Committee Chairman David Scott (D-Ga.) also opposes the Biden plan.
In a recent letter to Biden, he wrote:
I have serious concerns about proposed changes in tax provisions that could hurt our family farmers, ranchers and small businesses.
I am very concerned that proposals to pay for these investments could partially come on the backs of our food, fiber, and fuel producers. In particular, “step-up in basis” is a critical tool enabling family farming operations to continue from generation to generation. The potential for capital gains to be imposed on heirs at death of the landowner would impose a significant financial burden on these operations. Additionally, my understanding of the exemptions is that they would just delay the tax liability for those continuing the farming operation until time of sale, which could result in further consolidation in farmland ownership. This would make it more difficult for young, beginning, and socially disadvantaged farmers to get into farming.
While I appreciate that the proposal provides for some exemptions, the provisions could still result in significant tax burdens on many family farming operations.
Montana Senator Jon Tester (D), a farmer, also opposes the Biden plan.
Tester said:
"I'm a small farmer in eastern Montana, and it would have significant effects on me."
Biden's proposal violates his pledge against any tax increase on any American making less than $400,000 per year. His proposal contains no exemption for these Americans.
White House: Dems' Carbon Border Tax Breaks Biden’s $400,000 Tax Pledge
The White House is withholding support for a proposal to impose a carbon border tax as part of Democrats’ $3.5 trillion package filled with wasteful spending and tax increases over concerns that it would violate President Biden’s pledge not to raise taxes on anyone making less than $400,000 per year.
According to recent reporting from Reuters, “the White House is concerned the Democrats' proposal will raise prices on a host of consumer goods, from cars to appliances, and conflict with Biden's pledge not to tax any American earning less than $400,000 per year.”
The White House is right to worry about the increased costs a carbon border tax would impose on all American consumers, including those earning less than $400,000. The proposed carbon border tax would be nearly indistinguishable from a tariff, resulting in higher prices for consumers that would be disproportionately felt by poorer Americans forced to spend a larger share of their income on the many everyday products containing imported materials subject to the tax.
While details are still vague, the Democrat proposal would impose a tax on various imported goods including aluminum, cement, iron, steel, natural gas, petroleum, and coal. The level of tax would be dependent upon the level of greenhouse gas emissions from the exporting country. The proposal mirrors legislation introduced by Senator Chris Coons (D-Delaware) earlier this year which was estimated to be a $16 billion annual tax on American consumers and hit 12% of all U.S. imports.
While Democrats message their carbon border tax as a “polluter fee” meant to incentivize the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from exporting countries, in practice the brunt of the tax would be faced by American consumers paying higher prices for goods. Additionally, as Kyle Pomerleau of the American Enterprise Institute points out, the Democrats' proposal lacks a rebate on exports – meaning the plan is not a true border adjustment but a tariff - and would not offset the incentive to shift domestic production overseas.
Americans for Tax Reform urges lawmakers and President Biden to oppose Democrats’ proposed carbon border tax.
Photo Credit: Arian Zwegers
More from Americans for Tax Reform
New Petition Could Protect Massachusetts Residents from A Regressive Fuel Tax
The Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance submitted a petition last week to let voters instead of Beacon Hill decide the fate of a destructive cap-and-trade program that would limit gasoline and diesel supply into the state.
The Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI) was a proposed regional compact that tried to limit Massachusetts' emissions from cars and trucks. By auctioning off emissions "allowances" for vehicle fuel suppliers, proponents of the initiative hoped to force energy companies to pay for the right to sell a particular amount of gas and diesel. But of the TCI's initial 14 members, just two remain interested in joining the program: Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Even the Rhode Island legislature – controlled in both chambers by a Democratic supermajority – expressed reluctance to enter the cap-and-trade agreement, ending this year's session without passing legislation to join the TCI. In fact, Rhode Island House Speaker Pro Tempore Martin Looney called the TCI a regressive tax on the poor.
Representative Looney is correct: by restricting the supply of gasoline into the state, Massachusetts would experience a rise in the cost of transportation by as much as 38 cents per gallon, paired with imminent and debilitating fuel shortages. The Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance estimates that more than 80,000 vehicles will be without fuel in 2025, just two years after the program is scheduled to begin. To offset that fuel shortage, Massachusetts would need to replace 2,000 gas-powered cars with electric vehicles every month – an impossible task for a state that sold the same number of EVs over the entire course of 2020. Meanwhile, low-earning residents most directly impacted by a fuel shortage will face a challenging set of unappealing choices: drive less, pay more for fuel, or shell out the cash for an expensive electric vehicle.
The Sierra Club, a prominent environmental group, has backed out of its support for the TCI, arguing that the 26% reduction in emissions by 2032 is "too weak." Indeed, for a program that virtually forces thousands of low-income residents to decide between paying higher fuel costs or purchasing an expensive electric car, the program's ultimate effect on CO2 emissions is paltry. Moreover, a 26% reduction is exceptionally negligible in light of the dozens of other states that are not committed to reducing fuel use. Nor will the TCI affect the global impact of emissions, especially with countries like China that burn enormous amounts of coal and other dirty fossil fuels.
The TCI's projections acknowledge that if Massachusetts did not join the agreement, the state would still experience a 19% reduction in carbon emissions over the next decade, thanks to better fuel economy standards and growing demand for EVs. Meanwhile, the effect of the TCI itself would only reduce emissions between 1 and 7 percentage points. Such a minuscule reduction in emissions does little to justify a new annual tax burden of up to $5.6 billion.
Massachusetts residents have already made clear their opposition to gas taxes in a 2014 referendum. At issue was a 2013 law that would have automatically increased gas taxes by indexing them to inflation while placing a minimum cap on gas taxes to prevent any decrease in the tax rate. The law also provided a one-time gas tax hike of 14.2%, from 21 to 24 cents per gallon. Faced with the grim reality of automatic, unlimited gas tax increases, voters in the Bay State approved a resolution to repeal that law. Instead, the TCI would impose a similar, albeit indirect, fuel tax in stark contrast with the preferences of Massachusetts voters.
While Governor Charlie Baker remains committed to joining the TCI, the petition filed by the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance would successfully place the question before voters in a referendum on the 2022 ballot if the petition is approved and the organization can collect 80,239 signatures by November 17. Massachusetts voters will likely have the chance to again say no to new gas taxes and protect their poorest residents from the bitter effects of a statewide fuel shortage.
Photo Credit: Chris Yarzab
More from Americans for Tax Reform
Arizonans Will Get Stuck with Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike
If Sinema and Kelly enact a corporate income tax rate increase, they will have to explain why they just increased your utility bills
If President Biden and Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly hike the corporate income tax rate, Arizona households and businesses will get stuck with higher utility bills as the country tries to recover from the pandemic.
Democrats plan to impose a corporate income tax rate increase to 28%, even higher than communist China's 25%. This does not even include state corporate income taxes, which average 4 - 5% nationwide.
Customers bear the cost of corporate income taxes imposed on utility companies. Corporate income tax cuts drive utility rates down, corporate income tax hikes drive utility rates up.
Electric, gas, and water companies must get their billing rates approved by the respective state utility commissions. When the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act cut the corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21%, utility companies worked with state officials to pass along the tax savings to customers, including at least ten Arizona utilities.
The savings typically come in the form of a rate reduction, a bill credit, or a reduction to an existing or planned rate increase.
According to a report published in the trade publication Utility Dive, customers nationwide were to receive a $90 billion utility benefit from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act:
Estimates derived from 2017 annual SEC 10-K filings indicate that the 14-percentage-point reduction in the corporate tax rate enacted under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) resulted in investor-owned utilities establishing significant regulatory liability balances, totaling approximately $90 billion to be refunded back to customers.
Americans for Tax Reform has compiled a 90-second nationwide utility savings video from local news reports which may be viewed here.
If Democrats now impose a corporate income tax rate increase, they will have to reckon with local news coverage noting utility bills are going up. A vote for a corporate income tax hike is a vote for higher utility bills as households try to recover from the pandemic.
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Impact: Working with the Arizona Corporation Commission, EPCOR, Arizona Public Service, Bermuda Water Company, Liberty Utilities, Quail Creek, Tucson Electric Power Company, Alliant Gas, Southwest Gas Corporation, Arizona Water Company and UNS Electric, Inc. passed along tax savings to their customers.
Arizona Public Service (Arizona): The utility passed along savings to customers. As noted in this January 9, 2018 APS document:
APS has requested the Arizona Corporation Commission approve a $119 million bill reduction for customers, based on federal corporate tax cuts, effective February 1, 2018.
If approved, the $119 million decrease will offset the $95 million revenue increase that resulted from APS’s last rate review. The savings of $0.004258/kWh will be passed directly to customers through the Tax Expense Adjustor Mechanism (TEAM), a new adjustor mechanism that was included in the company’s rate review, and customer savings will vary with actual energy usage. APS customers would receive the credit on their monthly bill.
EPCOR (Arizona): The utility passed along savings to customers. As noted in this June 12, 2018 EPCOR press release:
More than 57,000 EPCOR wastewater customers will receive more than $1.1 million in federal corporate tax cut savings, reducing the amount of their monthly wastewater bill starting with the July 2018 billing cycle.
Today, the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) approved EPCOR’s request to refund $1,106,392 in tax reform savings to all of the company’s residential and commercial wastewater customers.
“We are extremely pleased to help our wastewater customers save more than $1 million each year, and it’s important to us that we put this into effect as soon as possible,” commented Joe Gysel, President of EPCOR USA, Arizona’s largest regulated water utility. “All our customers deserve to share in the savings generated by federal tax reform. It's positive for them, for their communities and for our state.”
Bermuda Water Company (Arizona): As noted in this August 24, 2018 Prescott eNews excerpt:
The Arizona Corporation Commission is following through on its promise to pass savings created by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act to Arizona utility ratepayers. As of August, the effort has totaled $189,088,437.
At the August Open Meeting, the Commission addressed tax adjustments for both the Quail Creek and Bermuda Water Companies. The largest tax adjustment occurred earlier this year when the Commission approved a $119 million dollar reduction to benefit APS customers.
Liberty Utilities (Arizona): As noted in this August 24, 2018 Prescott eNews excerpt:
The Arizona Corporation Commission is following through on its promise to pass savings created by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act to Arizona utility ratepayers. As of August, the effort has totaled $189,088,437.
The Commission has been working on rate adjustments every month since February. At the July Open Meeting, the Commission addressed federal tax adjustments for both Southwest Gas and Liberty Utilities with adjustments made to their revenue requirements of $20 million and $1.9 million respectively.
Quail Creek (Arizona): As noted in this August 24, 2018 Prescott eNews excerpt:
The Arizona Corporation Commission is following through on its promise to pass savings created by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act to Arizona utility ratepayers. As of August, the effort has totaled $189,088,437.
At the August Open Meeting, the Commission addressed tax adjustments for both the Quail Creek and Bermuda Water Companies. The largest tax adjustment occurred earlier this year when the Commission approved a $119 million dollar reduction to benefit APS customers.
Tucson Electric Power Company (Arizona): As noted in this April 13, 2018 Arizona Daily Star excerpt:
EP and its sister utilities “believe it is in the public interest to share a substantial portion of the expected income tax savings with their respective customers on an expedited basis,” the companies said.
TEP says its proposals may include a fast-tracked regulatory approval process to implement a billing credit as soon as possible; a higher seasonal credit that would help offset customer bills during higher usage months; or bill credits that would decline over time while still smoothing the bill impacts of future rate requests.
Alliant Gas (Arizona): As noted on the Alliant Gas website:
The Arizona Corporation Commission ordered Alliant Gas to file a rate case for its Page and Payson Divisions as part of the company’s action to refund customers the income tax reductions resulting from The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.
Southwest Gas Corporation (Arizona): As noted on the Southwest Gas website:
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 reduced the federal income tax rate for corporations like Southwest Gas, and we’re passing the savings on to you.
Arizona Water Company (Arizona): As noted in this March 15, 2018 Casa Grande Dispatch excerpt:
Arizona Water Company presented a plan to the Arizona Corporation Commission Tuesday to reduce customer rates in its western group, which includes Casa Grande, Coolidge and Stanfield.
Commissioners want to assure federal tax reform law directly benefits utility customers by passing federal tax savings on to the ratepayers, according to a press release. Commissioners have voted to award federal tax reform money directly to utility customers.
Going forward, commissioners voted to ensure a 3.6-percent rate reduction in monthly rates for the western group and a 4-percent reduction in monthly rates for the northern group.
UNS Electric, Inc. (Arizona): As noted in this UNS Electric, Inc. document:
The purpose of the Tax Adjustment is to address changes in the Company’s federal income tax rate until such changes are reflected in the Company’s next general rate case. The savings will be returned through a combination of (i) a per kilowatt-hour (“kWh”) bill credit for all customer classes and (ii) a regulatory liability that reflects the deferral of the return of a portion of the savings (which will be returned to customers in the Company’s next rate case).
For 2019 (and subsequent years), the tax savings to be returned to customers will be calculated as for 2018 and will reflect the effective federal income tax rate applicable for that tax year.
Conversely, if Biden and Democrats raise the corporate tax rate, they will add to the burden faced by working families. And any small businesses operate on tight margins and can't afford higher heating, cooling, gas, and refrigeration costs.
President Biden should withdraw his tax increases.
List: Tax Hikes to Expect in the Dems' $3.5 Trillion Plan
[To schedule an interview please contact John Kartch at jkartch@atr.org]
Today, the House voted to pass S. Con. Res. 14, the Democrat Fiscal Year 2022 budget resolution. The Senate has already passed this measure on a party-line vote. By voting for this budget, Democrats have fast tracked President Biden’s reckless $3.5 trillion ($3,500,000,000,000) tax and spending spree later this year.
The passing of this resolution has now teed off the following proposals:
Trillions in new tax increases on working families and small businesses. This budget resolution is the first step toward the Biden plan to raise taxes by $3 trillion over the next decade. Some of these tax increases include:
- Increasing the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent, which will be passed along to working families in the form of higher prices, fewer jobs, and lower wages. This will give the U.S. a combined state-federal rate of 32 percent, higher than our foreign competitors including China, which has a 25 percent corporate tax rate.
- At least 2 million small businesses will get hit by Biden’s tax hikes. This includes over 1.4 million small businesses organized as c-corporations, family-owned farms impacted by the repeal of step-up in basis, and pass-through organizations which would be hit by the increase of the top marginal income tax to 39.6 percent.
- Raising the corporate income tax rate will hit Americans with higher utility bills as the country tries to recover from the pandemic. Customers directly bear the cost of corporate income taxes imposed on utility companies. Investor-owned electric, gas, and water companies must get their billing rates approved by the respective state utility commissions. Therefore, if Democrats raise the corporate tax rate, they will have voted to raise utility bills. [Americans for Tax Reform has compiled 300 examples of utilities passing tax savings along to customers.]
- Doubling the capital gains tax to 43.4 percent, a rate more than double China’s capital gains tax.
- Taking away step-up in basis and imposing a second death tax by taxing unrealized capital gains at death. This will disproportionately fall on family-owned businesses. Taking away step-up in basis has already been tried and failed. In 1976, Congress eliminated stepped-up basis, but it was so complicated and unworkable that it was restored in 1980.
- Imposing a 15 percent minimum tax on “book income” that will disallow the use of important deductions and credits that help promote job creation and economic growth.
- Increasing the top income tax rate to 39.6%, a tax increase that will fall on small businesses. As noted in a recent Senate Finance Committee report, "... in 2016, only 42 percent of net business income in the United States was earned by corporations, down from 78.3 percent in 1980."
- New taxes on American energy including a tax on manufacturers based on their methane production and a carbon border tax. These tax increases will be passed along to families and businesses in the form of higher prices.
- Creating a 21 percent global minimum tax, higher than the 15 percent global minimum tax the Biden admin is pushing other countries to enact. Because existing law denies foreign tax credits, this could see businesses pay a top rate of 26.25 percent.
- Repealing the deduction for foreign-derived intangible income, a tax cut that encourages businesses to house their intellectual property in the United States.
$80 billion in new IRS funding to hire 87,000 new agents. This would allow the IRS to audit and harass small businesses and American families for an additional $787 billion. It would hire enough new IRS agents to fill Nationals Park twice.
It would help implement the Biden plan to create a new comprehensive financial account information reporting regime which would force the disclosure of any business or personal account that exceeds $600.
Not only would this include the bank, loan, and investment accounts of virtually every individual and business, but it would also include third-party providers like Venmo, CashApp, and PayPal.
New IRS funding will also be a boon to the union that represents IRS employees. This union, the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), shovels 97 percent of their money into Democrat campaign coffers.
IRS employees also regularly perform union work on the taxpayer’s dime. In 2019, 1,421 IRS and other Treasury Department employees spent 353,820 hours of taxpayer-funded union time (TFUT), costing the federal government $17.27 million.
Socialist healthcare policies such as H.R. 3, the Pelosi plan to impose new taxes and government price controls on American medical innovation. This legislation creates a 95 percent excise tax on manufacturers and imposes an international reference pricing scheme that directly imports foreign price controls into the U.S.
This proposal will reduce access to new, lifesaving and life-preserving medicines. According to research by the Galen Institute, the U.S. had access to 90 percent of new cures launched between 2011 and 2018, a rate far greater than comparable foreign countries. For instance, The United Kingdom had access to 60 percent of medicines, Japan had 50 percent, and Canada had just 44 percent.
It will also threaten high-paying manufacturing jobs across the country at a time when we are just emerging from the economic wreckage from the pandemic. Pharmaceutical manufacturers invest $100 billion in the U.S. economy every year, directly supporting 800,000 jobs including jobs in every state.
Trillions in new welfare spending that will allow the federal government to promote woke policies. This includes:
- Hundreds of billions in funding for “free” pre-K and community college to “close the equity gap.” Part of this funding will ensure classroom environments that are “inclusive for all students.”
- $10 billion to create a Civilian Climate Corps. The program will help set the stage for the Green New Deal and give progressive activists free government housing, transportation, and salaries to “advance environmental justice.”
- New spending to make childcare “affordable,” and to promote “culturally and linguistically responsive environments.”
- New federal subsidies to improve “housing affordability and equity” and to encourage green and sustainable housing.
- Lowers the Medicare eligibility age and expands coverage to Dental, Vision, and Hearing.
This $3.5 trillion spending package is a reckless proposal that will lead to increased taxes on working families and small businesses and trillions in new spending on welfare programs and woke policies.
Photo Credit: House Democrats
Democrats Propose a Tax Break for Big Labor
Democrats are pushing to include a tax break for big labor in President Biden’s $3.5 trillion tax-and-spend plan in order to fill Democrats' political war chests.
Big Labor is lobbying lawmakers to include this tax break so that union members can deduct the cost of dues from their taxable income. This tax break would be “above the line,” meaning that taxpayers could take this deduction regardless of whether they itemized their deductions.
Even more concerning, lawmakers are considering implementing a tax credit for union dues rather than a deduction, which would provide a greater tax benefit by reducing the filer's tax liability dollar for dollar. These changes would effectively subsidize unions at the expense of other taxpayers.
This deduction (or credit) would be distortionary tax policy that does little or nothing to help the majority of middle class families. It is a more harmful and favorable version of the union dues deduction that existed before the GOP tax cuts repealed it.
The tax deduction the TCJA repealed allowed employees to deduct any unreimbursed expenses (including union dues) that exceeded 2 percent of their adjusted gross income. However, this distortionary deduction was repealed as part of a trade-off that resulted in lower taxes for the middle class across the board.
Democrats plan to fund this package through tax hikes on the American people. While they struggle to find pay-fors, as they are well into economy-damaging territory, it appears they are still willing to lose tax revenue for their union donors.
The fact is, many workers do not want to join a union voluntarily. Union membership is in decline -- today, a mere 10.8 percent of workers are unionized, down from 34.8 percent in 1954. Only 6.3 percent of private sector workers are unionized. Because of this trend, big labor wants a special tax break that they hope will make union membership more attractive to workers.
While Democrats claim the use of dues for political lobbying are excluded from deductibility, unions regularly blur the lines of how dues are actually being used. Regardless, more money going to one project frees up money for another. Unions are giants in the political arena – an overwhelming amount of their political contributions go to left-leaning and/or Democratic groups.
For example, the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) represents 150,000 federal employees. This union shovels 97 percent of its PAC money into Democrat campaign coffers. In the 2019-2020 campaign cycle, NTEU’s political action committee raised $838,288. Out of $609,000 in spending on federal candidates, an overwhelming 97.04 percent went to Democrats.
Beneficiaries of this political giving include House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-Texas), Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.).
The last thing the federal government should do is providing tax breaks for union membership. If individual Americans wish to join a union, they can do so. Certainly, taxpayers and U.S. businesses should not be made to pay more in taxes for these kinds of special interest inclusions in the $3.5 trillion spending package.
This isn't the only case where Democrats have attempted to use changes in tax policy to benefit their special interests. Ever since the TCJA repealed the state and local tax (SALT) deduction, Democrats have been trying desperately to reinstate it. Earlier this month, every Senate Democrat reaffirmed their support for the SALT deduction in an amendment vote. Nearly 96 percent of the benefits of SALT cap repeal would go to the top quintile of earners. Despite this policy contradicting virtually everything Democrats claim to stand for, it does benefit wealthy Americans in blue states, which happen to make up many of their donors and special interests.
Democrats are pushing a reckless proposal that would include trillions of dollars in tax hikes primarily borne by workers and consumers through lower wages, fewer jobs, and higher prices. As it stands, this legislation is bad enough. However, including a tax credit or deduction of big labor would make this legislation even worse and should be rejected.
Photo Credit: Sergey Galyonkin
A New Vision for Virginia
Republican gubernatorial candidate and Taxpayer Protection Pledge signer Glenn Youngkin recently outlined his plan to provide relief to Virginia taxpayers. His plan includes lowering taxes, investing in students, and funding the police.
Virginia’s taxes and fees have increased at twice the rate of GDP growth. Youngkin’s plan will reverse this unfortunate trend.
First, Youngkin calls for Virginia to refund $1.5 billion tax dollars to taxpayers, or $300 per individual, and to suspend the recent gas tax increase for one year. Youngkin also supports small businesses and wants to protect them from over-taxation. To achieve this end, Youngkin calls for “fully funding the Virginia Unemployment Insurance Fund to prevent payroll taxes from increasing in 2022, providing a one-year tax holiday for small businesses on the first $250 thousand of income.”
He also wants to invest $700 million toward bringing universal broadband to rural Virginia to bridge the digital divide and allow them access to the benefits broadband brings with it.
Youngkin’s proposal would also work to fix Virginia's schools and help its students. To do this, Youngkin operates on a simple principle: Parents should have power over how their children get educated.
Youngkin would have Virginia “provide $500 per public school student in refunds to parents to invest in student educational recovery” after many students’ education suffered from the lockdowns last year. In addition, to give parents more choice, Youngkin would pilot 20 new charter schools.
Youngkin believes supporting police and law enforcement is the answer to support public health and safety, not defunding them. “The Youngkin proposal would commit...$500 million to public safety and mental health.” In addition, to stop the wave of resignations and early retirement of police officers, Youngkin would offer a $5000 retention bonus for police officers over the next three years. He also calls for investing in better pay and better equipment for police and first responders.
In contrast, Youngkin’s opponent Terry McAuliffe believes that the higher taxes should stay. He called Youngkin’s gas tax plan “ a "gimmick" that would "literally destroy Virginia.". In fact, as Governor, McAuliffe proposed several new taxes including taxes on products like “real estate sales, hotel stays and wholesale gasoline”.
Glenn Youngkin has a different vision of Virginia than his opponents. While free-spending candidates like Terry McAuliffe “live by the philosophy that government should decide all things” Youngkin believes the exact opposite, that government should take a step back and let the people choose for themselves how their money should be spent. As governor, he would be a strong ally to Virginian taxpayers.
Photo Credit: Glenn Youngkin
More from Americans for Tax Reform
How Biden's Corporate Tax Hike Will Raise Utility Bills
Democrats warned: A vote for a corporate income tax hike is a vote for higher utility bills.
If President Biden raises the corporate income tax rate, Americans will get hit with higher utility bills as the country tries to recover from the pandemic.
Democrats this week are voting to clear the way for a corporate income tax rate increase. They want to take the current rate of 21% and raise it to 28%, higher than communist China's 25%. This does not even include state corporate income taxes, which average another 4 - 5% nationwide.
Customers directly bear the cost of corporate income taxes imposed on utility companies.
Investor-owned electric, gas, and water companies must get their billing rates approved by the respective state utility commissions. When the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act cut the corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21%, utilities worked with state officials to pass along the tax savings to customers.
After completing a 50-state review of utility commission documents and local news sources, Americans for Tax Reform has compiled 300 examples of utilities passing tax savings along to customers.
So if Democrats now raise the tax rate, they will have to explain why they just raised utility bills.
You can view the 50 state lists below, and a full national compilation here.
The savings come in the form of a rate reduction, a bill credit, or a reduction to an existing or planned rate increase.
ATR has also compiled a 90-second nationwide utility savings video from local news reports which may be viewed here.
According to a report published in the trade publication Utility Dive, customers nationwide were to receive a $90 billion utility benefit from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act:
Estimates derived from 2017 annual SEC 10-K filings indicate that the 14-percentage-point reduction in the corporate tax rate enacted under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) resulted in investor-owned utilities establishing significant regulatory liability balances, totaling approximately $90 billion to be refunded back to customers.
If Democrats now impose a corporate income tax rate increase, they will have to reckon with constituents and local news coverage noting utility bills are going up.
The 50 state lists are below:
ALABAMA
Alabama Residents Will Get Stuck with Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/alabama-residents-will-get-stuck-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
ALASKA
Alaska Residents Will Get Stuck with Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/alaska-residents-will-get-stuck-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
ARIZONA
Arizonans Will Get Stuck with Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/arizonans-will-get-stuck-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
ARKANSAS
Arkansas Residents Will Get Stuck with Even Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/arkansas-residents-will-get-stuck-even-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
CALIFORNIA
California Residents Will Get Stuck with Even Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/california-residents-will-get-stuck-even-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
COLORADO
Colorado Residents Will Get Stuck with Even Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/colorado-residents-will-get-stuck-even-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
CONNECTICUT
Connecticut Residents Will Get Stuck with Even Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/connecticut-residents-will-get-stuck-even-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
DELAWARE
Delaware Residents Will Get Stuck with Even Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/delaware-residents-will-get-stuck-even-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
FLORIDA
Florida Residents Will Get Stuck with Even Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/florida-residents-will-get-stuck-even-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
GEORGIA
Georgia Residents Will Get Stuck with Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/georgia-residents-will-get-stuck-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
HAWAII
Hawaii Residents Will Get Stuck with Even Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/hawaii-residents-will-get-stuck-even-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
IDAHO
Idaho Residents Will Get Stuck with Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/idaho-residents-will-get-stuck-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
ILLINOIS
Illinois Residents Will Get Stuck with Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/illinois-residents-will-get-stuck-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
INDIANA
Indiana Residents Will Get Stuck with Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/indiana-residents-will-get-stuck-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
IOWA
Iowans Will Get Stuck with Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/iowans-will-get-stuck-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
KANSAS
Kansas Residents Will Get Stuck with Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/kansas-residents-will-get-stuck-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
KENTUCKY
Kentucky Residents Will Get Stuck with Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/kentucky-residents-will-get-stuck-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
LOUISIANA
Louisiana Residents Will Get Stuck with Even Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/louisiana-residents-will-get-stuck-even-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
MAINE
Maine Residents Will Get Stuck with Even Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/maine-residents-will-get-stuck-even-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
MARYLAND
Maryland Residents Will Get Stuck with Even Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/maryland-residents-will-get-stuck-even-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
MASSACHUSETTS
Massachusetts Residents Will Get Stuck with Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/massachusetts-residents-will-get-stuck-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
MICHIGAN
Michigan Residents Will Get Stuck with Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/michigan-residents-will-get-stuck-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
MINNESOTA
Minnesotans Will Get Stuck with Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/minnesotans-will-get-stuck-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
MISSISSIPPI
Mississippi Residents Will Get Stuck with Even Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/mississippi-residents-will-get-stuck-even-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
MISSOURI
Missouri Residents Will Get Stuck with Even Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/missouri-residents-will-get-stuck-even-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
MONTANA
Montanans Will Get Stuck with Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/montanans-will-get-stuck-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
NEBRASKA
Nebraska Residents Will Get Stuck with Even Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/nebraska-residents-will-get-stuck-even-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
NEVADA
Nevada Residents Will Get Stuck with Even Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/nevada-residents-will-get-stuck-even-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
NEW HAMPSHIRE
New Hampshire Residents Will Get Stuck with Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/new-hampshire-residents-will-get-stuck-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
NEW JERSEY
New Jersey Residents Will Get Stuck with Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/new-jersey-residents-will-get-stuck-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
NEW MEXICO
New Mexico Residents Will Get Stuck with Even Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/new-mexico-residents-will-get-stuck-even-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
NEW YORK
New York Residents Will Get Stuck with Even Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/new-york-residents-will-get-stuck-even-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
NORTH CAROLINA
North Carolina Residents Will Get Stuck with Even Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/north-carolina-residents-will-get-stuck-even-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
NORTH DAKOTA
North Dakotans Will Get Stuck with Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/north-dakotans-will-get-stuck-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
OHIO
Ohioans Will Get Stuck with Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/ohioans-will-get-stuck-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
OKLAHOMA
Oklahoma Residents Will Get Stuck with Even Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/oklahoma-residents-will-get-stuck-even-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
OREGON
Oregon Residents Will Get Stuck with Even Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/oregon-residents-will-get-stuck-even-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
PENNSYLVANIA
Pennsylvanians Will Get Stuck with Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/pennsylvanians-will-get-stuck-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
RHODE ISLAND
Rhode Island Residents Will Get Stuck with Even Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/rhode-island-residents-will-get-stuck-even-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
SOUTH CAROLINA
South Carolina Residents Will Get Stuck with Even Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/south-carolina-residents-will-get-stuck-even-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
SOUTH DAKOTA
South Dakota Residents Will Get Stuck with Even Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/south-dakota-residents-will-get-stuck-even-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
TENNESSEE
Tennessee Residents Will Get Stuck with Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/tennessee-residents-will-get-stuck-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
TEXAS
Texas Residents Will Get Stuck with Even Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/texas-residents-will-get-stuck-even-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
UTAH
Utah Residents Will Get Stuck with Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/utah-residents-will-get-stuck-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
VERMONT
Vermont Residents Will Get Stuck with Even Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/vermont-residents-will-get-stuck-even-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
VIRGINIA
Virginians Will Get Stuck with Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/virginians-will-get-stuck-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Washington, D.C. Residents Will Get Stuck with Even Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/washington-dc-residents-will-get-stuck-even-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
WASHINGTON STATE
Washington State Residents Will Get Stuck with Even Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/washington-state-residents-will-get-stuck-even-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate
WEST VIRGINIA
Manchin's Corporate Tax Hike Will Stick West Virginians with Higher Utility Bills https://www.atr.org/west-virginians-will-get-stuck-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
WISCONSIN
Wisconsin Residents Will Get Stuck with Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/wisconsin-residents-will-get-stuck-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
WYOMING
Wyoming Residents Will Get Stuck with Even Higher Utility Bills Due to Biden Corporate Tax Rate Hike https://www.atr.org/wyoming-residents-will-get-stuck-even-higher-utility-bills-due-biden-corporate-tax-rate-hike
Biden's Second Death Tax Will Kill Farms
Taking away stepped-up basis would impose $680,000 tax on typical Iowa farm
Dem Ag Committee Chairman: "This would make it more difficult for young, beginning, and socially disadvantaged farmers to get into farming."
President Biden's plan to take away stepped-up basis will impose a second Death Tax on the American people. It will hit a typical Iowa farm with $680,000 in new taxes.
As noted by the Iowa Torch:
The planned exemption for a married couple is a million dollars. Any excess would likely be taxed at about 40%. Given the average Iowa farm size of 359 acres at the current value of $7,559 per acre, that would leave the couple with $1.7 million exposed to taxes.
That amount is after the exemption is figured. The tax bill could reach as much as $680,000.
Biden and congressional Democrats are right now trying to eliminate step-up in basis. Elimination of stepped up basis would impose an automatic capital gains tax at death -- separate from, and in addition to -- the Death Tax.
This forced capital gains tax from Biden will hit Americans regardless of whether assets are sold or kept.
In this video, you can see a sample of the many times Biden has threatened to eliminate step-up in basis.
PUSHBACK FROM CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS
But Democrats are getting an earful from their constituents. And some prominent Democratic congressmen are sounding the alarm.
House Agriculture Committee Chairman David Scott (D-Ga.) sent a letter to Biden stating:
I have serious concerns about proposed changes in tax provisions that could hurt our family farmers, ranchers and small businesses.
I am very concerned that proposals to pay for these investments could partially come on the backs of our food, fiber, and fuel producers. In particular, “step-up in basis” is a critical tool enabling family farming operations to continue from generation to generation. The potential for capital gains to be imposed on heirs at death of the landowner would impose a significant financial burden on these operations. Additionally, my understanding of the exemptions is that they would just delay the tax liability for those continuing the farming operation until time of sale, which could result in further consolidation in farmland ownership. This would make it more difficult for young, beginning, and socially disadvantaged farmers to get into farming.
While I appreciate that the proposal provides for some exemptions, the provisions could still result in significant tax burdens on many family farming operations.
STEPPED UP BASIS WAS ONCE KILLED IN THE 1970s, WITH DISASTROUS RESULTS
Biden was in the Senate the last time congress took away stepped up basis. In 1976 congress eliminated stepped-up basis but had to reverse course.
As noted in a July 3, 1979 New York Times article, it was "impossibly unworkable":
Almost immediately, however, the new law touched off a flood of complaints as unfair and impossibly unworkable. So many, in fact, that last year Congress retroactively delayed the law's effective date until 1980 while it struggled again with the issue.
As noted by the NYT, intense voter blowback ensued:
Not only were there protests from people who expected the tax to fall on them -- family businesses and farms, in particular -- bankers and estate lawyers also complained that the rule was a nightmare of paperwork.
So, Biden saw all of that first hand and STILL wants to take away stepped-up basis. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley has a powerful op-ed in the Wall Street Journal on this episode.
Grassley writes:
I introduced Arley Wilson, an Iowa “country lawyer” who schooled policy makers on the impracticality and inefficiency of the tax law. He brought 35 years of experience in probate to the table. He explained how its application on top of the estate tax would be the “death knell” for family farms and small businesses. Among other issues, it would require complex reconstruction of the decedent’s assets, give rise to extended audits, and trigger litigation for next of kin. Eliminating step-up in basis is another post-death tax grab, adding punitive taxes on thrift, savings and investments.
Congress realized its mistake and voted in 1978 to suspend carryover basis and repeal it in 1980—both with then-Sen. Biden’s support. He’s forgotten the lesson he should have learned.
Four decades later Democrats want to dismantle a century-old tax law that has stitched the economic and social fabric of American agriculture together for generations. The 1921 Revenue Act codified step-up in basis at death. It has allowed property and livelihoods to be passed on to the next generation without a confiscatory tax.
HOW THE BIDEN PLAN WOULD WORK
In a Forbes piece titled "This Biden Tax Hike Hike Will Hit Mom & Pop Hard" tax lawyer Robert W. Wood writes:
Under current tax law, assets that pass directly to your heirs get a step-up in basis for income tax purposes. It doesn’t matter if you pay estate tax when you die or not. For generations, assets held at death get a stepped-up basis—to market value—when you die. Small businesses count on this.
Wood notes:
Biden's proposal would tax an asset's unrealized appreciation at transfer. You mean Junior gets taxed whether or not he sells the business? Essentially, yes. The idea that you could build up your small business and escape death tax and income tax to pass it to your kids is on the chopping block. Biden would levy a tax on unrealized appreciation of assets passed on at death. By taxing the unrealized gain at death, heirs would get hit at the transfer, regardless of whether they sell the asset.
As reported previously by CNBC:
“When someone dies and the asset transfers to an heir, that transfer itself will be a taxable event, and the estate is required to pay taxes on the gains as if they sold the asset,” said Howard Gleckman, senior fellow in the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.
As reported by Richard Rubin of the Wall Street Journal:
Manufacturers and farmers, who tend to be more asset-rich and cash-poor, are watching closely for those details, concerned they might have to sell illiquid businesses to pay the taxes.
Courtney Silver, president of Ketchie Inc., a family-owned, 25-employee machine shop in Concord, N.C. that started in 1947, said she was concerned about the potential impact.
“I really can’t imagine being hit with that decision of that potential tax implication,” said Ms. Silver, 40 years old, who took over the business when her husband, Bobby Ketchie, died in 2014. “That to me is really hard to wrap my head around.”
It could be challenging for asset owners to figure out their tax basis, which is what they paid for the property and invested in it. That complexity is part of what doomed a similar proposal in the late 1970s, which Congress passed, then delayed, then repealed.
As noted in an Ernst and Young study, if a small business is unable to provide sufficient evidence to prove the cost basis of an asset, then it may set to $0. In other words, tax would be applied to the entire value of taxpayer assets:
“Family-owned businesses may also find it difficult to comply because of problems in determining the decedent’s basis and in valuing the bequeathed assets. It seems likely that these administrative problems could lead to costly disputes between taxpayers and the IRS. Additionally, if sufficient evidence is not available to prove basis, then $0 may be used for tax purposes. This may result in an inappropriately large tax at death.”
It is appalling that Biden is trying to take away stepped-up basis. He also wants to raise the federal corporate tax rate to a higher-than-China rate of 28% and wants to impose the highest capital gains tax since Jimmy Carter in 1977. His plan would also hit nearly two million small businesses with tax increases -- all while Americans try to dig out from the pandemic.
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