October 22,2020

ICYMI: Grassley: Voters should be skeptical of Biden's pledge to not raise middle class taxes

NOTE: Grassley’s floor speech on Biden’s tax plan can be found HERE.
 
ICYMI: Grassley: Voters should be skeptical of Biden's pledge to not raise middle class taxes
By Naomi Jagoda
The Hill
Published October 21, 2020
 
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Wednesday criticized Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's tax plan, arguing that there are reasons to be skeptical of Biden's claim that he won't raise taxes on people making under $400,000 annually.
 
"Who can blame taxpayers for being skeptical when Mr. Biden says that he won’t raise their taxes? Every indication is that he will raise taxes on people below $400,000 a year income," Grassley said in a speech on the Senate floor.
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Grassley argued that there are several reasons to doubt Biden's pledge. He said that former President Obama had pledged not to raise taxes on individuals making under $200,000 and married couples making under $250,000, but then broke that promise with taxes that were used to pay for ObamaCare.
 
Grassley also argued that business tax increases would get passed along to workers in the form of lower wages. The TPC and AEI analyses estimate that at least some income groups under $400,000 would see increases in their tax burdens in the long-run because of Biden's proposed business tax increases.
 
"With the bulk of Mr. Biden’s tax agenda targeted at hiking taxes on capital, the consequences then will be felt throughout the economy in the form of lower wages, fewer jobs and slower economic growth," Grassley said.
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Additionally, Grassley said that Biden's tax plan doesn't include a proposal to make permanent or extend the middle-class tax cuts for individuals in Trump's 2017 tax law. Those cuts are set to expire after 2025. The 2017 tax law's individual provisions have been estimated to reduce taxes for all income groups on average in the near-term.
 
"A top priority for President Trump and the Congressional Republicans has been to make permanent the middle-class tax cuts that were enacted in 2017," Grassley said.