President Biden revealed in March his plan for America’s fiscal future in his 2024 presidential budget. In it, he outlines a broad policy agenda, including a plan to raise the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent and levy a litany of taxes on high-income earners.
Yet, his proposal would do nothing to address the country’s national debt crisis. Biden plans to increase spending by $1.1 trillion, a large proportion of which would be for non-military discretionary items like expanding the federal child tax credits, tuition reduction, clean energy infrastructure, and biomedical and environmental research.
When first proposed, raising the corporate tax rate was estimated to cut America’s Gross Domestic Product by $720 billion over 10 years. It would also reduce workers’ wages and full-time employment opportunities.
While the president appears focused on increasing the tax burden on wealthy Americans, he should be concerned with prioritizing policies that elevate Americans’ purchasing power and doing so as quickly as humanly possible.
Raising corporate taxes will drive high-income workers to low-tax jurisdictions, pushing consumer prices up. It is well documented that when the government seeks to discourage a behavior, it chooses to tax it. Taxing U.S. investments signals to investors that their financial backing is not wanted. Meanwhile, those who cannot bankroll economies abroad are left to do more with less.
But most important, these changes signal higher consumer prices through reduced investment in American business.
Read the full Inside Sources article here.
Ben Dennehy is the Communications Director at the American Consumer Institute, a nonprofit education and research organization. For more information about the Institute, visit us at www.TheAmericanConsumer.Org or follow us on Twitter @ConsumerPal.