“I can’t look the people in West Virginia in the eye and ask them to pay a penny more until I know we’re running this government efficiently.”
When Joe Manchin asked West Virginians to send him to the Senate, he vowed that he would not raise a penny of taxes until the government was running efficiently. He also said taxes should not be raised during a recession.
Let’s roll the tape of Manchin during a nationally televised Senate debate on Oct. 18, 2010:
“I can’t look the people in West Virginia in the eye and ask them to pay a penny more until I know we’re running this government efficiently.”
This means Manchin cannot vote for any of President Biden’s tax increases. Biden wants to impose the highest capital gains tax on Americans since Jimmy Carter in 1977. He wants to impose a corporate tax rate hike that would increase the cost of household goods and services. He wants to take away stepped-up basis, which would crush small businesses and farms and upend the ability to pass your belongings to your children.
As a candidate, Manchin correctly noted that it is a bad idea to raise any taxes during a recession:
“I don’t think during a time of recession you mess with any of the taxes.”
Americans are trying to dig out from the pandemic in a time of deep economic uncertainty. A Manchin vote for any tax increase now would certainly violate the letter and spirit of his twin tax commitments to West Virginians.
When Manchin asked the voters to send him to Washington, he vowed to oppose tax increases: Now he’s threatening to impose tax hikes on West Virginia households and businesses. So what happened, Senator?