Representative Jim Banks (R-Ind.), the chairman of the Republican Study Committee, sent 42 items to his Republican colleagues, outlining the dangerous items in President Biden’s budget proposal. Every American can look at the list and find something to hate. This list should energize everyone to dial the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Lighting up the phone lines of individual members matters more than you think and some Democrats need to get more uncomfortable about the midterms than they already are.
An aging Democrat operative once said, “It’s the economy, stupid.” Americans are most concerned with the prosperity and opportunity afforded to their families. They want to live in safe, secure communities, and most want to be left alone to live their lives as they see fit. Biden’s proposal opposes Americans on all of these fronts.
Biden’s Budget Increases Taxes for Nearly Everyone, Except the Wealthy
According to the Joint Committee on Taxation analysis, few taxpayers will see any immediate or long-term tax relief under the budget bill. The non-partisan group shows that in 2023, more than two-thirds of all taxpayers will get essentially no benefit from the bill or will experience a meaningful tax increase. By 2027, more than 85% of all taxpayers will fall into this category.
The results apply across the income spectrum, with nearly three-quarters of all taxpayers earning between $30,000 and $100,000 experiencing an increase. Democrats will simultaneously lift the cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions allowing wealthy Americans who itemize deductions to write off their entire state and local bills. This provision will reduce the net income used to calculate the federal taxes they pay, effectively lowering their federal tax bill. Raising the tax rate on the wealthiest Americans while simultaneously reducing their taxable income is a neat trick.
Biden’s Budget Hurts Small Businesses
Small businesses employ 47.1% of America’s private-sector employees. In 2018, businesses with fewer than 500 employees made up 99.7% of America’s 6.1 million employers. While the pandemic may have temporarily reduced these numbers, small businesses are an integral part of the economic mobility and inherited wealth foundational to the American Dream. We all know a skilled tradesman who bought a truck, built a business, purchased a home, and sent his three kids to college.
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The budget as proposed will gut small business deductions that reduce taxes on individuals who treat business income as personal income for tax purposes. These provisions kept small business tax rates comparable to those imposed on much larger corporations. So that plumber who grew a business that employs ten people will now pay a higher effective tax rate than Amazon.
The owners of these entities will pay the top 39.6% tax rate and Obamacare’s 3.8% tax on net investment income. The bill would impose a 25% capital gains rate and alter the death tax, cutting the exemption in half. These changes, which reduce generational wealth transfer, will demand the sale of family farms and businesses by the next generation. The plumber’s kids may need to sell the business to avoid a crushing tax bill and go to work for Roto-Rooter rather than carrying on dad’s business.
The budget does not spare C-Corps either, with corporate tax rates going up 5.5%. This increase will mean American corporations will have the largest tax burden in the world. The trickle-down effects of off-shoring jobs, lower returns in retirement funds, and higher prices will touch every American family.
Biden’s Green Energy Boondoggle Makes Us Poorer and Less Safe
President Trump was clear that energy independence is central to economic and foreign policy achievements. President Biden has already ended that strategic advantage and is creating energy dependence with his green proposals. The budget requires that Americans receive 40% of their energy from solar and wind power in the next eight years. These sources require significant land use and equipment produced mainly in China, not the U.S.
Biden’s policies also prevent us from producing a significant amount of this equipment by restricting the mining of the minerals required to make them. While simultaneously limiting fossil fuel production, the U.S. becomes dependent on the Middle East and Russia to meet its current energy needs in the near term. It is impossible to fathom how that will work out in light of the current administration coddling Iran and creating a terrorist superstate in Afghanistan.
Long-term, specific green energy mandates for wind and solar will make us dependent on China. Why any U.S. president would make us reliant on the ideological enemy that openly plans to replace the U.S. as the world’s superpower is beyond comprehension.
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In the meantime, energy costs will continue to rise, hitting the vast middle classes the hardest. Wealthy Americans will get tax breaks for installing new green products and purchasing electric vehicles. Never mind that wind and solar are not feasible or reliable in several areas of the country. The devastation wrought by the unusual blizzard in Texas and the disruption of rolling blackouts in California will be more common.
Biden’s Budget Increases the Risk of a Wide Open Southern Border
Democrats are leaving amnesty for 10 million illegal aliens in the budget, despite the Senate parliamentarian saying no. In addition, the budget includes all illegal aliens in every handout it proposes. They will receive free community college tuition, and the budget sets aside $100 billion for welfare benefit payments to people whose first act was violating our immigration law. Chain migration visas increase to 226,000. These provisions will increase border crossings by design. There is no other explanation.
The legislation will also prevent specific categories of deportations. Not that the current administration is really deporting anyone. If it passes, the Department of Homeland Security will be able to waive previous convictions for human trafficking and drug violations for illegal aliens. It also removes other grounds for deportation, such as failure to appear, and prohibits health requirements, including vaccination, during the pandemic.
Biden’s Budget Puts the Government in Your Bank Account and Your Body
The budget includes money to hire thousands of new IRS agents and a requirement for banks to report all transactions over $600. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has defended the provision, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi confirmed that it remains in the bill. Absurdly, the justification is preventing “billionaires” from cheating on their taxes. A person making $15 an hour working 40 hours a week makes $600 before taxes. A billion dollars in $600 transactions would equal 1,666,667 of them.
Add to this intrusion NSA data collection, pilot programs in the budget to electronically track how many miles you drive to tax them, and the U.S. Post office workers becoming a social media intel agency. It makes you wonder if the Biden administration has ever heard of the 4th Amendment. It also makes you contemplate when they will roll out the Chinese-style social credit score.
Related: A New Study Destroys the Argument for Biden’s Vaccine Mandate
Democrats also decided to put real teeth in President Biden’s announced vaccine mandate. It increases OSHA penalties on businesses that fail to implement it up to $700,000 per violation and includes $2.6 billion in funding for the Department of Labor to increase enforcement of these penalties. Democrats designed this punitive fine to make you comply via your employer, regardless of medical exemptions or religious objections.
By contrast, if an employer willfully or repeatedly violates another OSHA rule or regulation resulting in the death of an employee, they may be assessed a civil penalty of not more than $70,000 for each violation, but not less than $5,000 for each willful violation.
Beating Biden’s Budget
The list put out by the RSC contains plenty of red meat. However, it is up to independent and moderate Democrat voters to push back on vulnerable Democrats in purple states and districts to defeat this legislation. The items above affect all Americans at home, in their wallet, and even inside their bank account and bloodstream. Jen Psaki said President Biden wishes to fundamentally change our economy. This budget bill will fundamentally change America without a mandate to do so.
