During the 2020 presidential campaign, then former Vice President Joe Biden repeatedly promised he would not raise taxes on anyone making less than $400,000 per year.
Just two months into his presidency, that has changed.
BREAKING: Biden's proposed tax hike would apply to people earning 200k or more a year, White House clarifies -NYP
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) March 18, 2021
Let me be very clear: If you make under $400,000 you won’t pay a penny more in taxes under my administration.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 16, 2020
“I’m not going to raise taxes on a single solitary American making less than $400,000 a year. You won’t pay a penny more. It’s a guarantee.” - Joe Biden, Oct 13 2020 https://t.co/SwAqC5s3AX
— Abigail Marone (@abigailmarone) March 18, 2021
From Fox Business:
White House press secretary Jen Psaki clarified on Wednesday that Biden's proposed $400,000 threshold for tax increases applies to families, rather than individuals, meaning the hike could hit individuals who earn $200,000 a year if they are married to someone who makes the same amount.
Psaki did not specify a threshold for individual earners.
Biden is eyeing the next big-ticket economic bill as a vehicle for one of the major tax hikes in close to 30 years.
The planned changes include: raising the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21%, raising the income tax rate on individuals earning more than $400,000, expanding the estate tax, creating a higher capital-gains tax rate for individuals earning at least $1 million annually and paring back tax preferences for so-called pass-through businesses.
Biden also plans to repeal the Trump tax cuts, which means a tax increase for the middle class and most Americans. He also wants to reimplement the death tax.
Most people got a tax cut.
The Tax Policy Center estimates that 65 percent of people paid less under the law and that just 6 percent paid more.
The Joint Committee on Taxation — Congress’s nonpartisan team of tax analysts — found that every income group would see a tax cut on average. So did the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-leaning think tank that was sharply critical of the law. In fact, that group went even further: In a December 2017 analysis, it found that every income group in every state would pay less on average under the law in 2019.
Tax hikes could destroy any economic progress made in recent months as the country tries to recover from bad government decisions made during the pandemic.
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