Joe Biden must convince people he won't hike taxes on everyone: strategist
Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden has some work to do 70 days ahead of the election to convince the masses he won’t be a major tax-raiser-in-chief.
“The question I have over the next 70 or so days is, can the Biden campaign focus in on the fact that the tax increases would only be on those earning above $400,000 a year? And to me, that’s difficult — that’s a difficult job,” Compass Point director of policy research Isaac Boltansky told Yahoo Finance’s The First Trade. “I think what they will do is also really highlight the fact that they are not just talking about taxing the capital of high earners and corporates more. They are also talking about a very aggressive fiscal expansion for low and moderate income folks through a number of different child tax care credits, etc.”
Biden is off to a mixed start on this sales job.
“I will raise taxes for anybody making over $400,000,” Biden said in a new ABC News interview that aired Sunday. “Let me tell you why I'm going to do it. It’s about time they start paying a fair share of the economic responsibility we have. The very wealthy should pay a fair share — corporations should pay a fair share.”
The former vice president said he will not raise taxes on small businesses and those earning under $400,000 a year.
Despite the assertion, Biden’s mere call out of tax increases — ahead of the Republican National Convention where President Trump will likely tout his signature tax cuts — is likely to stoke concerns among the low and middle income classes of less money in their pockets should Biden get elected.
Biden has revealed a plan to reverse half of President Trump’s tax cuts to help pay for his ‘Build Back Better’ economic revival scheme. He would lift the statutory tax rate to 28% from its current 21%.
The Tax Foundation estimates Biden’s tax plan would raise tax revenue by $3.8 trillion over the next decade. And that could have negative ramifications on economic output — the Tax Foundation says 1.51% will be lopped off U.S. GDP over the long-term because of Biden’s approach on taxes.
Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large and co-anchor of The First Trade at Yahoo Finance. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn.
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