ATR president Grover Norquist joined Connell McShane on Fox Business Network's After the Bell to discuss California latest tax hike attempt, which could lead to the nation's highest state corporate income tax rate.

The bill would increase taxes on companies that post at least $10 million of taxable income. The size of the tax increase would be proportional to the pay gap between the CEO and employees. The larger the gap, the larger the tax increase.

Norquist responded: 

"It's a massive tax increase. California has an 8.8 percent corporate income tax on top of the 21 percent national, federal tax. They want to take that up to 11 to 15 percent. So it's a massive tax increase to start with. But then they go, "Oh, but we'll hit you even more if you don't pay people the way we want you to."

Boards of Directors are responsible and shareholders are responsible for firing any CEO who overpays himself or herself. It shouldn't be the government's decision to tell you. Sometimes, somebody who's a CEO can be worth a lot of money, sometimes not... If you want to be in the business of setting pay, vote as a shareholder, work in the business of owning part of the company. The people who should care are the people who own it. They don't want to waste money. They don't want to waste millions of dollars on a CEO that's not any good."

California's brutal tax and regulatory environment continues to drive people and companies out of the state. State politicians don't seem to know or care.

Click here to watch the interview.

In Iowa this week, Democrat Pete Buttigieg signaled that if elected, he would place tighter regulations on the nicotine vapor industry, stating that “the burden has to be” on the vapor industry to prove that e-cigarettes and nicotine vapor products are safe, during a town hall in Winterset, Iowa on Monday. He went on to mischaracterize the value and intended purpose of products that are specifically flavored in nature and to blame nicotine products for recent vaping-related illnesses. 

Here’s the key exchange:

Voter: “So, in 2019, more than 27% of high school students used an e-cigarette. How would you address this epidemic as it pertains to youth and young people?”

Buttigieg: “So, what we are seeing is e-cigarettes being marketed and sold to young people despite companies telling us otherwise. The way this was marketed and sold to the country is that it can be used for harm reduction. It can get people off smoking combustion cigarettes and into something that might be less dangerous than cigarettes. But that doesn't make them safe in their own right, and that doesn't answer why you would target them for people who aren't smokers at all. And I believe the burden has to be on these companies to demonstrate that they are not causing harm rather than on regulators to demonstrate that they are.

This means taking action on these flavored e-cigarette products that are clearly targeted towards children and making sure that we have a much higher bar for them demonstrating that they're not causing harm because we're seeing all these horrifying cases of people coming to harm because they use this product.

And it is why, whether its specific to e-cigarettes or whether its more generally when it comes to the way that we regulate food and drug and other products in this country that we have regulators who actually believe in protecting consumers rather than being beholden to those whose profits are at stake."

Not only does Buttigieg signal that he would impose rules more onerous than those recently implemented by the Trump administration, but he refused to acknowledge the harm reduction potential of a vast majority of vapor products that adults use to quit smoking which are in fact flavored.

Without evidence or context he asserted that e-cigarettes have caused harm to consumers. In fact, Mayor Pete seemed to purposely confuse the harm being inflicted on consumers by black market and illicit THC marijuana products, which have been identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as the culprit behind the recent vaping illnesses. Those THC products are generally already illegal in all instances, as opposed to legal nicotine vaping products available in convenience stores, vape shops, and other retail outlets. 

Buttigieg’s comments come less than a week after Elizabeth Warren signaled that she would crack down on legal nicotine vaping if elected and on the heels of Joe Biden also suggesting that he would “eliminate” vaping if elected.

“I don't care what it does to a small business person who's selling this stuff. If it is damaging lungs, if it's causing the kind of damage that is said and that studies not been fully done yet. If it turns out that it is that I would eliminate it,” Biden said.

Bernie Sanders would repeal the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in order to pay for some of his pricey policy proposals, according to a report from CNN:

“Other Sanders proposals, such as applying the Social Security payroll tax to annual incomes over $250,000, rescinding the Trump tax cuts and imposing an array of other new taxes on corporations, might collect another $4 trillion over 10 years."

A Sanders promise to repeal the tax cuts is a promise to raise taxes. If the tax cuts were repealed:

• A family of four earning the median income of $73,000 would see a $2,000 tax increase.

• A single parent (with one child) making $41,000 would see a $1,300 tax increase.

• Millions of low and middle-income households would be stuck paying the Obamacare individual mandate tax.

• Utility bills would go up in all 50 states as a direct result of the corporate income tax increase.  

• Small employers will face a tax increase due to the repeal of the 20% deduction for small business income.

• The USA would have the highest corporate income tax rate in the developed world, higher than the United Kingdom (19 percent), China (25 percent), Canada (26.8 percent), and Ireland (12.5 percent). 

• Taxes would rise in every state and every congressional district.

• The Death Tax would ensnare more families and businesses.

• The AMT would snap back to hit millions of households.

• Millions of households would see their child tax credit cut in half.

• Millions of households would see their standard deduction cut in half, adding to their tax complexity as they are forced to itemize their deductions and deal with the shoebox full of receipts on top of the refrigerator.

In Vermont, where Sanders is a U.S. Senator, households who made the state average income of $61,438, received a tax cut of around $1,471, according to a recent Tax Foundation report.

Even left-leaning and establishment media outlets confirm the good news arising from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act:

• The New York Times flatly stated: "Most people got a tax cut."

• The Washington Post stated: “Most Americans received a tax cut.”

• CNN's Jake Tapper did his own fact check and concluded: "The facts are, most Americans got a tax cut." 

• CNN's Jake Tapper also stated: "In fact, estimates from both sides of the political spectrum show that the majority of people in the United States of America did receive a tax cut."

• FactCheck.org stated: "Most people got some kind of tax cut in 2018 as a result of the law."

• FactCheck.org also stated: "The vast majority (82 percent) of middle-income earners — those with income between about $49,000 and $86,000 — received a tax cut that averaged about $1,050.

If you want to stay up-to-date on their threats to raise taxes, visit www.atr.org/HighTaxDems.

See more:

Warren Falsely Claims Her MFA Plan Will Not Raise Middle Class Taxes by “One Thin Dime”

Biden: Sanders Tax “Doesn’t Even Come Close” to Paying for Medicare for All

Buttigieg Would Repeal the Entire Trump Tax Cut Primary tabs 

Warren Dodges Private Healthcare Question Three Times During Morning Joe Interview

Biden: “Get Rid of the Trump Tax Cut”

Pete Buttigieg: “We Gotta Roll Back the Trump Tax Cuts for Corporations”

Biden: “Anybody Who Can Throw Coal Into a Furnace Can Learn How To Program”

Warren Contradicts Herself on Medicare for All, Again

Mayor Pete’s “Carbon Tax and Dividend” Will Raise Taxes on Social Security Recipients

Booker Praises Opportunity Zones While Planning to Repeal TCJA Which Created Them

Buttigieg Praises Opportunity Zones, Vows to Eliminate TCJA Which Created the Zones in the First Place

Sanders: “Of Course” Medicare for All Will Cost You Something

Despite Steep Tax Hikes, Biden’s Numbers Don’t Add Up

Biden: Capital Gains Tax Rate “Could Go Higher” Than 40%

Biden on Medicare for All: “You’re Going to Have to Raise Taxes on the Middle Class”

Sanders Senior Adviser: “Yes, We Will Repeal the Trump Tax Scam”

Bloomberg Endorsed a Carbon Tax

Biden to Sanders and Warren: “Let’s Get Realistic” on Trillion Dollar Spending Plans

Booker: I Would Raise the Capital Gains Tax Rate

List of Buttigieg Tax Hike Proposals

2020 Dems: Warren's Medicare for All Will Raise Middle Class Taxes

Fact Check: Mark Zandi Misleads Americans, Claims Warren’s Healthcare Plan Will Not Raise Middle Class Taxes

Warren: Medicare for All Covers Illegal Immigrants

Elizabeth Warren Contradicts Herself on Taxes, Again

Biden: Imagine if I Told Elizabeth Warren ‘You Should Be In a Socialist Primary’

CNN Catches Warren in a Tax Lie

Bernie Sanders: Warren’s Medicare for All Plan Would Have “Very Negative Impact” on Jobs and Wages

Warren Claims Americans Making Less Than One Billion Dollars Will “Not Pay a Penny More” in Taxes Under Her Medicare for All Plan

Warren’s “Medicare for All” Repeals Trump Tax Cuts

Biden: Warren is "Making it Up" on How She'll Pay for Medicare For All

Biden: “It’s Impossible to pay for Medicare for All without middle class tax increases”

Biden Slams Medicare for All: “It’s Totally Unrealistic and Can’t be Done”

Warren: Two Million Lost Jobs from Medicare for All “Part of the Cost Issue”

Video Showing Every Time Elizabeth Warren Has Dodged the Middle Class Tax Question

Out of touch Biden calls Trump’s $2,000 middle class tax cut “negligible”

Biden Calls for 28% Corporate Tax Rate

Biden: “Every Single Solitary Person” Will Pay 40% Capital Gains Tax

Warren Dodges the Middle Class Tax Question Again

Buttigieg Says He Will Raise Corporate Tax Rate to 35%

Watch: CNN Analyst Gets Visibly Irritated as Warren Dodges Tax Hike Question

Andrew Yang to Elizabeth Warren: Wealth Tax Would Have “Massive Implementation Problems”

Biden on Warren Dodging Middle Class Tax Question: “This is Ridiculous. Absolutely Ridiculous.”

Buttigieg Grills Warren for Dodging the Middle Class Tax Question

Biden: I Will Raise the Capital Gains Tax to 39.5%

Elizabeth Warren Can’t Stop Dodging the Middle Class Tax Question

VIDEO: 17 Times Elizabeth Warren Has Dodged the Middle Class Tax Question

VIDEO: Warren Keeps Dodging the Middle Class Tax Question

Biden: “I’m Gonna Double the Capital Gains Rate to 40%”

Tax Hike Bernie Says He’ll Tax All Income Over $29K 

Video: Warren Dodges Middle Class Tax Question Again

Biden Calls for Full Repeal of Trump Tax Cuts

Biden Attacks Warren: "She's Going to Raise People's Taxes”

Video: Media Fed Up with Elizabeth Warren Tax Dodge

Biden: End "Trump's Tax Cut for The Top Tenth of One Percent"

Booker: “My plan would reverse those toxic Trump tax cuts”

Stephen Colbert Calls Out Warren for Dodging Middle Class Tax Question

Video: Warren Dodges MSNBC’s Middle Class Tax Questions

Elizabeth Warren is Still Dodging the Middle Class Tax Question

Video: 2020 Democrats Promise Higher Taxes

Biden Caught Lying about GOP Tax Cuts

Bill De Blasio: “As President, I Would Issue a Robot Tax”

Biden Endorses Carbon Tax

Kamala Harris Calls for Ban on Plastic Straws

Elizabeth Warren's Climate Plan Calls For "Reversing" GOP Tax Cuts

Sanders: We’re Going to “Absolutely” Raise the Corporate Tax Rate

Elizabeth Warren on Corporate Tax Cuts: “I really want to see them rolled back.”

Bill de Blasio Calls for Corporate Tax Rate Hike

Amy Klobuchar: Raise the Corporate Tax Rate to 25%

Biden on capital gains tax: “We should raise the tax back to 39.6 percent”

Kamala Harris Threatens to Repeal GOP Tax Cuts 3 Times in August

Joe Biden: “I’m going to eliminate most all” of GOP Tax Cuts

Cory Booker Calls for Repeal of "Toxic" GOP Tax Cuts

Marianne Williamson Joins Dems Calling for TCJA Repeal

Kamala Admits Her Plan Would End Employer Insurance

“Medicare for All” is a Middle Class Tax Increase, Say Dems

Elizabeth Warren Can’t Dodge the Middle Class Tax Question Forever

Dem Socialized Healthcare Plan Will Lead to Middle Class Tax Hikes

Elizabeth Warren "Wealth Tax" was described by the WaPo editorial board as having "a certain authoritarian odor"

Supposed “Moderate” Democrat John Delaney Wants to Impose Carbon Tax on the American People

Klobuchar Suggests Capital Gains Tax Hike and “Doing Something” About TCJA

VIDEO: 2020 Democrats Will Raise Your Taxes

Kamala Harris Campaign Headquarters Located in Opportunity Zone Created by GOP Tax Cuts

Julian Castro: “We’re going to have to raise taxes.”

Biden and Harris: Raise the Corporate Tax Rate

Biden tweet: Ignore the fact I’ve already called for middle class tax hikes

Kamala Harris: “I Will Reverse” Trump’s Tax Cuts

Kamala Harris Calls for Repeal of Tax Cuts Four Times in Three Minutes

Julian Castro Caught Lying about GOP Tax Cuts

NYT: Bidencare Will be Funded by “rolling back” GOP tax cuts

Kamala Harris: I Will Repeal “That Tax Bill”

Cory Booker: “I do support” Imposing Carbon Tax on Americans

Harris: “We are Going to Repeal That Tax Bill”

Biden: I Will Raise Corporate Tax Rate to 28%

Kamala Harris Continues to Lie about Tax Cuts

Jay Inslee: “Repeal the Trump Tax Cuts”

Biden Running Ads to “Repeal Trump’s Tax Cuts.”

VIDEO: Ten Times Biden Threatened to Repeal Tax Cuts

Here’s what happens if Dems repeal tax cuts

VIDEO: 10 Times 2020 Democrats Have Threatened to Repeal TCJA

Kamala Harris: When I Enter Office "I Will Repeal" the TCJA

Biden: “First thing I would do as President is Eliminate the President’s Tax Cut.”

Bernie Sanders claims people would be “delighted to pay more in taxes”

Biden: Tax Cuts Will be “Gone” If I’m Elected

Kamala Harris: I Will Repeal Tax Cuts “on day one”

Biden again says capital gains tax is “Much too Low”

Biden: Capital gains tax “much too low”

VIDEO: Five Times Biden has Threatened to Repeal Tax Cuts

Biden: “First thing I’d do is repeal those Trump tax cuts.”

Joe Biden broke his middle class tax pledge

“Mayor Pete” Calls for Steep Tax Hike on Homes and Businesses

Kamala Harris Vows Repeal of Tax Cuts “on Day One”

Biden: “When I’m President, if God willing I am, we’re going to reverse those Trump tax cuts.”

Tonight during the CNN debate Joe Biden told Bernie Sanders that his tax to fund Medicare for All “doesn’t even come close” to paying for the over $40 trillion healthcare plan.

Here’s the key exchange:

Brianne Pfannenstiel: “Vice President Biden, does Senator Sanders owe voters a pricetag on his healthcare plan?” 

Biden: “We need to be candid with voters, I think we have to tell them what we’re going to do and what it will cost. A 4% tax on income over $24,000 doesn't even come close to paying for between $30 and some estimates $40 trillion over ten years. That’s doubling the entire federal budget a year.” 

Biden has previously said that “you’re going to have to raise taxes on the middle class.”

At one point, he even said that the plan is “totally unrealistic and can’t be done.”

To pay for the Medicare for All plan, Sanders has proposed a 4% tax on all income over $23,000, which Biden was referring to. 

Meanwhile Warren has proposed repealing the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act as part of her Medicare for All scheme, which would substantially raise middle class taxes.

If you want to stay up-to-date on their threats to raise taxes, visitwww.atr.org/HighTaxDems.

See more:

Buttigieg Would Repeal the Entire Trump Tax Cut Primary tabs 

Warren Dodges Private Healthcare Question Three Times During Morning Joe Interview

Biden: “Get Rid of the Trump Tax Cut”

Pete Buttigieg: “We Gotta Roll Back the Trump Tax Cuts for Corporations”

Biden: “Anybody Who Can Throw Coal Into a Furnace Can Learn How To Program”

Warren Contradicts Herself on Medicare for All, Again

Mayor Pete’s “Carbon Tax and Dividend” Will Raise Taxes on Social Security Recipients

Booker Praises Opportunity Zones While Planning to Repeal TCJA Which Created Them

Buttigieg Praises Opportunity Zones, Vows to Eliminate TCJA Which Created the Zones in the First Place

Sanders: “Of Course” Medicare for All Will Cost You Something

Despite Steep Tax Hikes, Biden’s Numbers Don’t Add Up

Biden: Capital Gains Tax Rate “Could Go Higher” Than 40%

Biden on Medicare for All: “You’re Going to Have to Raise Taxes on the Middle Class”

Sanders Senior Adviser: “Yes, We Will Repeal the Trump Tax Scam”

Bloomberg Endorsed a Carbon Tax

Biden to Sanders and Warren: “Let’s Get Realistic” on Trillion Dollar Spending Plans

Booker: I Would Raise the Capital Gains Tax Rate

List of Buttigieg Tax Hike Proposals

2020 Dems: Warren's Medicare for All Will Raise Middle Class Taxes

Fact Check: Mark Zandi Misleads Americans, Claims Warren’s Healthcare Plan Will Not Raise Middle Class Taxes

Warren: Medicare for All Covers Illegal Immigrants

Elizabeth Warren Contradicts Herself on Taxes, Again

Biden: Imagine if I Told Elizabeth Warren ‘You Should Be In a Socialist Primary’

CNN Catches Warren in a Tax Lie

Bernie Sanders: Warren’s Medicare for All Plan Would Have “Very Negative Impact” on Jobs and Wages

Warren Claims Americans Making Less Than One Billion Dollars Will “Not Pay a Penny More” in Taxes Under Her Medicare for All Plan

Warren’s “Medicare for All” Repeals Trump Tax Cuts

Biden: Warren is "Making it Up" on How She'll Pay for Medicare For All

Biden: “It’s Impossible to pay for Medicare for All without middle class tax increases”

Biden Slams Medicare for All: “It’s Totally Unrealistic and Can’t be Done”

Warren: Two Million Lost Jobs from Medicare for All “Part of the Cost Issue”

Video Showing Every Time Elizabeth Warren Has Dodged the Middle Class Tax Question

Out of touch Biden calls Trump’s $2,000 middle class tax cut “negligible”

Biden Calls for 28% Corporate Tax Rate

Biden: “Every Single Solitary Person” Will Pay 40% Capital Gains Tax

Warren Dodges the Middle Class Tax Question Again

Buttigieg Says He Will Raise Corporate Tax Rate to 35%

Watch: CNN Analyst Gets Visibly Irritated as Warren Dodges Tax Hike Question

Andrew Yang to Elizabeth Warren: Wealth Tax Would Have “Massive Implementation Problems”

Biden on Warren Dodging Middle Class Tax Question: “This is Ridiculous. Absolutely Ridiculous.”

Buttigieg Grills Warren for Dodging the Middle Class Tax Question

Biden: I Will Raise the Capital Gains Tax to 39.5%

Elizabeth Warren Can’t Stop Dodging the Middle Class Tax Question

VIDEO: 17 Times Elizabeth Warren Has Dodged the Middle Class Tax Question

VIDEO: Warren Keeps Dodging the Middle Class Tax Question

Biden: “I’m Gonna Double the Capital Gains Rate to 40%”

Tax Hike Bernie Says He’ll Tax All Income Over $29K 

Video: Warren Dodges Middle Class Tax Question Again

Biden Calls for Full Repeal of Trump Tax Cuts

Biden Attacks Warren: "She's Going to Raise People's Taxes”

Video: Media Fed Up with Elizabeth Warren Tax Dodge

Biden: End "Trump's Tax Cut for The Top Tenth of One Percent"

Booker: “My plan would reverse those toxic Trump tax cuts”

Stephen Colbert Calls Out Warren for Dodging Middle Class Tax Question

Video: Warren Dodges MSNBC’s Middle Class Tax Questions

Elizabeth Warren is Still Dodging the Middle Class Tax Question

Video: 2020 Democrats Promise Higher Taxes

Biden Caught Lying about GOP Tax Cuts

Bill De Blasio: “As President, I Would Issue a Robot Tax”

Biden Endorses Carbon Tax

Kamala Harris Calls for Ban on Plastic Straws

Elizabeth Warren's Climate Plan Calls For "Reversing" GOP Tax Cuts

Sanders: We’re Going to “Absolutely” Raise the Corporate Tax Rate

Elizabeth Warren on Corporate Tax Cuts: “I really want to see them rolled back.”

Bill de Blasio Calls for Corporate Tax Rate Hike

Amy Klobuchar: Raise the Corporate Tax Rate to 25%

Biden on capital gains tax: “We should raise the tax back to 39.6 percent”

Kamala Harris Threatens to Repeal GOP Tax Cuts 3 Times in August

Joe Biden: “I’m going to eliminate most all” of GOP Tax Cuts

Cory Booker Calls for Repeal of "Toxic" GOP Tax Cuts

Marianne Williamson Joins Dems Calling for TCJA Repeal

Kamala Admits Her Plan Would End Employer Insurance

“Medicare for All” is a Middle Class Tax Increase, Say Dems

Elizabeth Warren Can’t Dodge the Middle Class Tax Question Forever

Dem Socialized Healthcare Plan Will Lead to Middle Class Tax Hikes

Elizabeth Warren "Wealth Tax" was described by the WaPo editorial board as having "a certain authoritarian odor"

Supposed “Moderate” Democrat John Delaney Wants to Impose Carbon Tax on the American People

Klobuchar Suggests Capital Gains Tax Hike and “Doing Something” About TCJA

VIDEO: 2020 Democrats Will Raise Your Taxes

Kamala Harris Campaign Headquarters Located in Opportunity Zone Created by GOP Tax Cuts

Julian Castro: “We’re going to have to raise taxes.”

Biden and Harris: Raise the Corporate Tax Rate

Biden tweet: Ignore the fact I’ve already called for middle class tax hikes

Kamala Harris: “I Will Reverse” Trump’s Tax Cuts

Kamala Harris Calls for Repeal of Tax Cuts Four Times in Three Minutes

Julian Castro Caught Lying about GOP Tax Cuts

NYT: Bidencare Will be Funded by “rolling back” GOP tax cuts

Kamala Harris: I Will Repeal “That Tax Bill”

Cory Booker: “I do support” Imposing Carbon Tax on Americans

Harris: “We are Going to Repeal That Tax Bill”

Biden: I Will Raise Corporate Tax Rate to 28%

Kamala Harris Continues to Lie about Tax Cuts

Jay Inslee: “Repeal the Trump Tax Cuts”

Biden Running Ads to “Repeal Trump’s Tax Cuts.”

VIDEO: Ten Times Biden Threatened to Repeal Tax Cuts

Here’s what happens if Dems repeal tax cuts

VIDEO: 10 Times 2020 Democrats Have Threatened to Repeal TCJA

Kamala Harris: When I Enter Office "I Will Repeal" the TCJA

Biden: “First thing I would do as President is Eliminate the President’s Tax Cut.”

Bernie Sanders claims people would be “delighted to pay more in taxes”

Biden: Tax Cuts Will be “Gone” If I’m Elected

Kamala Harris: I Will Repeal Tax Cuts “on day one”

Biden again says capital gains tax is “Much too Low”

Biden: Capital gains tax “much too low”

VIDEO: Five Times Biden has Threatened to Repeal Tax Cuts

Biden: “First thing I’d do is repeal those Trump tax cuts.”

Joe Biden broke his middle class tax pledge

“Mayor Pete” Calls for Steep Tax Hike on Homes and Businesses

Kamala Harris Vows Repeal of Tax Cuts “on Day One”

Biden: “When I’m President, if God willing I am, we’re going to reverse those Trump tax cuts.”