As If Things Aren’t Bad Enough, Biden Is Proposing The Largest Tax Hike In History And A Supercharged IRS To Inflict Even More Damage On Americans’ Pocketbooks

AMERICANS ARE SEEING HIGHER TAXES UNDER BIDEN

• Today is one of the most stressful and frustrating days of the year for Americans: Tax Day.
• As taxpayers deal with IRS bureaucracy and struggle to find a way to make ends meet while paying their taxes, it’s a reminder that Biden and Democrats want to make things even worse.
• Biden’s latest budget proposal includes a $4.9 trillion tax hike – the largest in history.
• Biden is already responsible for billions in tax hikes under the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act.”
• Adding to outright tax hikes, Bidenflation has been a hidden tax costing American families thousands of dollars.
  • Inflation will cost the average American family an extra $12,590 over the next year, according to Congress’ Joint Economic Committee.
  • Americans have lost over $4,170 from higher energy costs alone since Biden took office.
  • Low-income Americans have been hit the hardest by inflation.

BIDEN WANTS THE LARGEST TAX HIKE IN HISTORY

• Biden's latest budget proposal is a $7.3 trillion liberal wish list full of tax hikes and increased spending.
  • The tax hike proposed by Biden amounts to $36,000 per American family.
  • Rather than use the added tax revenue to cut down the deficit, most of Americans’ tax dollars would be used for more spending and new entitlement expansions.
  • The CBO has projected that 38 cents of every income tax dollar will go towards paying interest on the national debt in ten years.
• Biden’s budget proposal raises taxes from roughly 18 percent of GDP to over 20 percent.
  • The Tax Foundation: Biden’s tax hikes “would put the U.S. in a distinctly uncompetitive international position and threaten the health of the U.S. economy.” 
• Biden’s budget would increase the business tax rate to 28 percent, which the Tax Foundation previously estimated would kill 159,000 jobs, shrink the economy by $720 billion, and cut wages for low-income Americans.
  • Known as “the most harmful tax for economic growth,” raising the business tax rate would worsen the competitive position of U.S. businesses and reduce prospects for business investment and workers.
  • Biden’s tax hike would give the U.S. a higher business tax rate than communist China.
  • American workers would bear the brunt of Biden’s business tax increase.
  • By raising the business tax rate, American families would be hit with increased utility bills due to increased costs for utility providers.
  • When including state taxes, corporate taxes would jump to the second highest in the OECD, after Columbia.
• Biden’s budget raises the top marginal income tax rate to 39.6 percent (small business owners often pay business taxes on their individual tax return), which breaks Biden's pledge to not raise taxes on small businesses. 
• Biden’s budget includes a minimum 25 percent tax on unrealized gains for some Americans – meaning they would have to pay taxes on assets that increased in value even if they didn’t sell it.
  • Taxing unrealized gains would likely reduce incentives to invest and hurt the long-term growth of the economy.
  • A tax on unrealized gains is opposed by three-quarters of Americans.
• Biden wants to quadruple the tax on stock buybacks, which would likely discourage investment and burdens every American with a 401k, IRA, or union pension.
• Biden is pushing for a second death tax by removing the step-up in basis.
  • This will impose a “steep tax increase and paperwork nightmare for small businesses, farms, and families.”
• Despite high gas prices, Biden’s budget proposal repeals $35.3 billion in tax credits for oil and natural gas production continuing Biden’s all-out war on American energy.
  • This will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher gas prices and energy bills.

BIDEN WANTS TO SUPERCHARGE IRS TAX AUDITS

• While Americans get crushed with higher taxes, Biden gave $80 billion to the IRS for additional audits and an army of 87,000 new IRS agents.
  • This IRS expansion would lead to an estimated 710,000 new audits of people making less than $75,000 per year.
• These new IRS agents would disproportionately target poorer Americans.
  • As of summer 2023, 63 percent of new IRS audits targeted Americans earning less than $200,000.
  • In 2021, the IRS audited Americans earning $25,000 a year at five times the rate of other groups and directed "more than half" of its audits at those making less than $75,000.
  • A 2019 study found that the five counties with the highest audit rates are all predominantly Black.
• After Republicans successfully reigned in billions, Biden’s most recent budget proposed giving an additional $104.3 billion to an already bloated IRS.
  • The CBO found that increased funding for IRS enforcement leads to "higher audit rates" for all taxpayers, including those who ultimately do "not…owe any additional taxes."
• Biden also wants to make it easier for IRS agents to stack up questionable penalties against taxpayers by expanding approval authority.

BIDEN WANTS TO WASTE TAXPAYER DOLLARS ON AN UNNECESSARY AND FLAWED TAX PREPARATION PROGRAM

• The Biden administration is encouraging Americans to use their new IRS Direct File program, estimated to cost taxpayers at least $2.5 billion over ten years.
  • Other estimates put this figure much higher, saying costs would rival or exceed the cost of Healthcare.gov – which has cost taxpayers $21.2 billion in just 11 years.
• Unlike the numerous, free private-sector tax prep services, IRS Direct File doesn’t file state returns, meaning it’s not making filing taxes easier.
• Developing and maintaining this highly complex tax preparation system will require the IRS to collect even more highly sensitive information from taxpayers.
  • The IRS has a record of failing to secure personal data. 
• A coalition of 18 states sent the Biden administration a letter calling on the IRS to abandon its Direct File program, saying it has “the potential to do more harm than good for taxpayers.”

BIDEN IS COMING FOR YOUR VENMO ACCOUNT

• While implementation has been delayed another year, Biden’s plan to go after Americans who collect at least $600 from payment apps like Venmo is still on the books.
  • This would result in as many as four million new tax forms for small businesses.
  • The old threshold was earning $20,000 over 200 transactions.
  • The new reporting would disproportionately impact communities of color, young women, and stay-at-home moms earning small amounts of income on the side.
• Small business owners are concerned the extra paperwork could lead to mistakes and prompt costly penalties.
  • Maryland furniture maker Dennis Turbeville: "Small businesses don't have the resources to understand how to do things properly … A $2,500 penalty for a business that's doing $2 million a year, not a big deal. For somebody like me, that's a big deal."
• Experts are "expecting the worst," warning that this form could mistakenly be sent to people that use Venmo for personal transfers.
  • Compounding the problem, 47 percent of Americans say they are using apps like Venmo more frequently to split bills because of Bidenflation.

BIDEN’S HIDDEN TAX ON AMERICAN FAMILIES

• Inflation has been a "hidden tax" hitting Americans' pocketbooks and leading to smaller paychecks. 
• Prices have risen by 19.4 percent since Biden took office – with Americans still reeling from inflation’s lasting effects.
  • On a year-over-year basis, inflation under Biden has averaged 5.5 percent – more than double the level of inflation seen under any of the last four presidents.
  • Grocery prices are up 21.1 percent, rent is up 20.9 percent, and electricity is up 29.3 percent since Biden took office.
• Inflation outpaced wages for a majority of Biden’s presidency – both year-over-year real average hourly earnings and real average weekly earnings were negative for 25 months.
  • Real wages remain lower than when Biden first took office.
  • Inflation-adjusted average weekly wages were $397.90 when Biden took office and are now $382.20 – the BLS adjusts to 1982-1984 dollars – meaning Americans have seen a 3.9 percent pay cut under Biden.

• Inflation has disproportionately hurt low-income households, as low-income Americans allocate a “bigger share” of their spending on high-inflation goods like food, gas, and housing, making them more vulnerable to rising prices.
  • Studies by the New York Fed, Dallas Fed, and the Urban Institute confirm that low-income Americans bear the brunt of inflation. 
• In a response to Bidenflation, the Fed has hiked interest rates 11 times since March 2022 – now at their highest level in 22 years – predominantly hurting the middle class in the process.
  • From March 2022, when the Fed started raising interest rates, to July 2023, the middle class lost more than $2 trillion in wealth.
  • In 2023 alone, the average real wealth of the American middle class fell more than $33,000.