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Biden campaign hits back at Trump claim that Biden will raise taxes: ‘He has no proof’

Joe Biden has promised to get rid of President Trump’s signature 2017 tax cuts which his campaign says helped millionaires and billionaires, but hurt everyone else.

In response, Trump tells voters that a Biden administration will mean a tax hike on Americans. “He’ll massively raise your taxes, Biden,” Trump said at a rally in Prescott, Ariz., on Oct. 19. “He’s going to raise your taxes. First time I’ve ever heard of a politician. He’s running on raising taxes. That’s how crazy the world has become.”

In an interview with Yahoo Finance, Karine Jean-Pierre, a senior advisor to Biden and chief of staff for vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris, said Trump’s claim is just “not true.”

“I know that Donald Trump constantly says that Joe Biden is going to raise your tax rate, which is not true. He has no proof. It is not true,” she said. “What we want to do is build economic wealth for working people.”

Biden’s tax plan includes policies that would “raise taxes on individuals with income above $400,000, including raising individual income, capital gains, and payroll taxes,” according to a Tax Foundation analysis. However, analysis by the Tax Policy Center indicates that Biden’s tax plan could impact low- and middle-income households because tax hikes for businesses could mean lower wages for workers.

Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign event at Riverside High School in Durham, N.C., Sunday, Oct. 18, 2020. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign event at Riverside High School in Durham, N.C., Sunday, Oct. 18, 2020. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Trump’s second-term tax agenda is light on details, but includes policy items like expanding existing tax breaks, creating credits for specific industries and activities, and tax cuts “to boost take-home pay.”

Economic recovery through a ‘racial equity lens’

Biden’s economic recovery plan for working families, Jean-Pierre said, will create jobs by addressing racial wealth and income inequality, Jean-Pierre said. His goal is to create jobs “with a racial equity lens so that everybody gets lifted up.”

As the U.S. economy slowly recovers from the coronavirus-induced recession, the unemployment rate dropped from a high of 14.7% in April to 7.9% in September. But the unemployment rate for Black workers, which was 16.7% in April, was still in double-digit territory last month, dropping to 12.1%.

A recent Federal Reserve survey shows the magnitude of the racial wealth gap in the U.S. The median wealth of a typical white family is $188,200 compared to $24,100 for a median Black family.

Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., speaks to a group of supporters at UNC-Asheville, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2020, in Asheville, N.C. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)
Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., speaks to a group of supporters at UNC-Asheville, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2020, in Asheville, N.C. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)

Through his Build Back Better plan, Jean-Pierre said Biden will close the racial wealth and income gaps, expand homeownership, remove barriers to affordable housing, and provide access to free college tuition.

“Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are advocating for bold plans that will directly benefit the Black community [such as] free tuition at community colleges and free tuition at a public four-year university and public or private [historically Black colleges and universities] for individuals making under $125,000,” said Jean-Pierre.

Biden and Harris are “campaigning every day for the votes of the Black community,” says Jean-Pierre. “We have to meet this moment and that’s what Joe Biden and Kamala Harris believe in, is meeting the moment and actually engaging the Black community and having that real conversation that’s needed to be had.”

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