Misleading: Joe Biden will increase taxes for everyone.

By: Devika Kandelwal
August 26 2020

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Taxes will only be directly raised for households making more than $400,000, though corporation tax rises may also have an indirect impact. In his tax plan, Joe Biden has clearly stated that he will not raise taxes for those making less than $400,000 per year. In his tax policy, Joe Biden will generate about half the money of the $4 trillion, by raising taxes on households with incomes over $400,000 and the other half by raising business taxes. His individual tax hikes include increasing income tax rates and applying the Social Security payroll tax to those making $400,000 or more. He would limit the benefit of itemized deductions to 28 percent. He would tax capital gains and dividends at ordinary income tax rates for those making $1 million or more, and tax unrealized capital gains at death. At the same time, he'd raise the corporate income tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent. The Tax Policy Center's analysis of Biden's tax policy shows that the top 1 percent would pay three-quarters of the tax hike. Gordon Mermin, a senior research associate at the Tax Policy Center, said Biden's plan would lead to a modest increase in costs for lower-income groups; however, this is due to the indirect effects of the corporate increase tax rate. On average, the Tax Policy Center's March report predicted that the bottom 80% of earners could wind up paying between $30 and $590 extra annually on Biden's watch. It estimated that the top 20% of earners would bear over 90% of the tax increases. No direct taxes are imposed on any household making less than $400,000 per year, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget wrote in its analysis of Biden's plan.