Fact Check: Biden Falsely Claims Nearly All Trump's Tax Cuts Went to Wealthy
President Joe Biden made a false claim regarding former President Donald Trump’s tax cuts in an effort to further socioeconomic division.
During the first solo news conference of his presidency on Thursday, Biden griped about Republicans’ opposition to the stimulus bill spending, saying that they supported a massive tax cut.
“Don’t you find it kind of interesting that my Republican friends were worried about that the cost and the taxes that had to be had — if there is any tax to be had, as they talk about it — in dealing with the, the act that we just passed, which puts money in people’s pockets — ordinary people?” Biden asked, according to a White House transcript of the news conference.
“Did you hear them complain when they passed close to a $2 trillion Trump tax cut — 83 percent going to the top 1 percent? Did you hear them talk about that all?” Biden added.
The claim about the tax cuts almost exclusively going to the top 1 percent of earners in America is false.
The top 1 percent was estimated to receive 20.5 percent of the cuts, according to a distributional analysis conducted by the Tax Policy Center in 2017, projecting for the upcoming year.
Running contrary to the Democrat’s narrative, plenty of middle-class Americans also benefitted from the cuts.
The center estimated that 82 percent of middle-class Americans received tax cuts in 2018, with cuts averaging between $1,260 and $1,330.
However, Democrats did a fantastic job messaging that only the wealthy saved money with Trump’s tax reform, as only 40 percent of Americans actually believed they got a tax cut, a 2019 New York Times SurveyMonkey poll revealed.
Even The Washington Post issued out “Two Pinocchios” to this false claim the Democratic Party often uses.
While Trump was certainly a divisive figure in his own right, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that was developed by congressional Republicans was one of the best accomplishments of the previous administration.
The persona of Republicans only caring about their rich donors proved itself to be false, as the cuts helped a majority of Americans.
By contrast, Biden is seeking to raise the federal income and corporate tax rate.
Major Biden tax hikes eyed for next bill (not final) include:
– Corporate rate 21->28%
– Global min tax to 21%
– Top income rate to 39.6%
– End fossil fuel subsidies
– Tax investment gains > $1M as wage income
– Tax assets passed on at deathNO to SALThttps://t.co/SCpSHH5OHr
— Jeff Stein (@JStein_WaPo) March 23, 2021
He claims that his proposed plan would only hurt wealthy Americans and big corporations, but it is unclear that it would manifest itself in such a clear-cut fashion.
President Biden’s tax proposals include increasing the corporate tax rate to 28%.
Corporate rates have been declining in every region around the world over the past several decades as countries have recognized their negative impact on business investment: https://t.co/zSUNIUNnXr pic.twitter.com/QY7PeidHkb
— Tax Foundation (@TaxFoundation) March 26, 2021
Tax hikes for one group, particularly businesses, would create a domino effect that could be responsible for layoffs.
Biden and the Democrats continue to paint themselves as the voice of the middle and lower class but are quite content using misleading claims to help themselves craft that image.
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