President Joe Biden is tearing a page from Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez’s “Tax the Rich” playbook in his newly proposed budget, which includes $5 trillion in tax increases on on American businesses and individuals, and a total of $6.8 trillion in government spending for one year.
The budget proposal in its current form has little chance of passing the House, which is controlled by Republicans looking for ways to rein in the federal debt.
The new taxes on wealth and corporations would be used to create even more new programs for the poor and to shore up Medicare, which is an increasing burden on the federal budget. Biden said that his budget would reduce deficits by $3 trillion over 10 years, although that is an unproven claim.
The taxes don’t just stop at the corporate door. Taxes will show up in the most unexpected places. There even would be a new 30% tax on electricity used in cryptocurrency mining. The White House wants to make cryptocurrency unprofitable, and taxing it appears to be the easiest way, although the cover story is that crypto trading is using too much energy.
He also is asking Congress to approve $3 billion to help poor countries mitigate effects of climate change.
Mr. Biden will give a speech on his budget at 2:30 p.m. (10:30 a.m. Alaska time) in Philadelphia. Earlier this week he signaled that he would be going after the rich in his new budget, the third of his presidency.
Today, the national debt stands at $31.6 trillion, and it appears that Biden is not serious about reducing the debt crisis.
.@JoeBiden: “I want to make it clear: I’m gonna raise some taxes.”
— Senate Republicans (@SenateGOP) March 9, 2023
And that’s exactly what Joe Biden's budget will do. pic.twitter.com/7BnHbwGSKI
