ATR President Grover Norquist joined Bill Mitchell on YourVoice™ America to discuss how Vice President Joe Biden will raise taxes on American families and business by trillions of dollars if elected President in November.
Mitchell noted that Vice President Biden has proposed doubling the 20 percent capital gains tax. As Norquist responded, this tax increase will reduce revenue and reduce economic growth, harming the 401(k)s and savings of American families:
“Every time we raised the capital gains tax, we lost revenue. Every time we’ve cut the capital gains tax, we’ve gained revenue. It is a powerful driver of new investment, jobs, and growth.
It’s a very sensitive tax, that’s why Republicans focus on cutting it and getting rid of it completely. However, Vice President Biden wants to move in the other direction, so think of your 401K and kiss it goodbye with a Vice President Biden administration.”
Mitchell also discussed how Vice President Biden wants to raise the corporate tax rate to 28 percent from the current rate of 21 percent, which would make our corporate tax rate higher than Communist China.
As Norquist pointed out, Trump and Congressional Republicans cut the corporate tax rate to 21%, making the United States competitive once again in the global economy. In contrast, under the Obama/Biden administration, our tax rate was 35 percent, the highest in the developed world.
If Biden succeeds, he will decimate this progress and put the U.S. back at a disadvantage on the world stage. As Norquist notes:
“Sometimes Vice President Biden says he wants to repeal all of the Trump tax cuts, which means taking our tax rates back up to 35%. He’s also mentioned 28%. Regardless, both of these percentages are higher than China. High tax rates drive investment away from the United States, and into China because their tax rate would be lower.”
The Trump Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), made several important changes to the tax code, leading to 90 percent of middle class Americans seeing a tax cut. The GOP tax cut has grown the economy, reduced taxes for the middle class, given workers a pay raise and new employee benefits, reduced utility costs, and given families relief from Obamacare.
Norquist pointed out the stark contrast between the failed tax-and-spend liberalism of the Obama/Biden regime and Trump’s successful pro-growth tax policies:
“Note the difference from three years ago. Every American saw lower rates and 90% saw lower tax burden. It was a tax cut for everyone and gave us strong growth.”
Biden has threatened to repeal the TCJA time and time again, a direct tax hike on middle class Americans.
The average income of a family of four in the United States today is $74,000. Under Vice President Biden’s plan to repeal the TCJA, they would see a $2,000 dollar a year tax increase. A single parent household would see a $1,300 tax increase.
Norquist outlined how Biden’s plan to raise middle class taxes by repealing the TCJA would decimate middle class savings:
“They will hurt the middle class. 60 million people have 401(k)s and 50 million have IRAs- 80 million households have a 401k or an IRA. We know that everything Vice President Biden would do from tax increases to giving the labor unions more power to trial lawyers to having more regulations- all of those make your 401(k) smaller and your savings becomes worth less. 80 million households is not 1 percent of 200 million adults.”
Ultimately, a Biden Administration would harm 401(k)s and American savings by doubling capital gains taxes, would raise the corporate tax rate higher than Communist China, and would directly raise taxes on middle class families by repealing the Trump tax cuts.
As middle-class voters head to the polls this fall, they should remember how President Trump and the Republican Party have consistently worked towards growing their savings and the economy with powerful pro-growth tax policy.