Tom
Hebert| Posted: Sep 04, 2020 12:01 AM The opinions expressed by columnists are their
own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.
Democrat
vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris recently proclaimed that
“Joe Biden and I are completely aligned” on having a government takeover of
healthcare.
Biden has
previously said that he is a “transition candidate,” effectively
conceding that his presidency would be a stepping stone for his running mate’s
radical progressive agenda.
During her
short-lived candidacy, Harris embraced a
vowed socialist Bernie Sanders’ “Medicare for All” scheme, endorsing trillions
of dollars in Sanders-style tax hikes on the American people.
Harris would
impose a new 7.5 percent payroll tax on employers, a $3.9 trillion tax hike
that would slash wages for millions of middle class Americans as employers pass
down the extra costs to their workers. Harris would also impose a 4 percent
payroll tax hike on families making more than $100,000 per year, directly
hitting29.2 percent of
households.
Harris
supports raising taxes on all Americans by establishing several new, higher tax
brackets. Harris would raise the top income tax rate to 52 percent, a 41
percent increase from the current 37 percent top tax rate.
Harris also
wants to raise capital gains taxes, which would harm Americans’ ability to
build a nest egg and hurt the value of their homes, farms, and businesses.
Taxing capital gains and dividends as ordinary income would decrease GDP by more
than 3 percent over the long term and cost 700,000 jobs according to the
Tax Foundation. It would also reduce household income for all American families
by more than 4 percent.
Harris would
impose a slew of financial transaction taxes (FTTs) on American businesses.
These new taxes include a 0.2 percent tax on stock trades, a 0.1 percent tax on
bond trades, and a .002 percent tax on derivative transactions.
These new
FTTs would especially impact 401(k)s, pensions, and index funds. Returns on
pension funds and other savings would be lower because of the increased costs
of buying and selling and the reduction in value of shares. On a macroeconomic
level they would increase the cost of capital and reduce productivity, harming
jobs and wages all across the country.
The Harris
tax hikes don’t end with the living. Harris would replace the existing 40
percent flat death tax rate with several new brackets, topping out at a 65
percent marginal death tax rate.This would be a massive blow to family farms
and small businesses all across the country, who can’t afford the army of
lawyers and accountants to exempt large portions of their estates from the
tax.
According to
estimates touted by Harris and Sanders, the total tax hikes Harris endorses add
up to roughly $8 trillion.
This is a
tiny fraction of what implementing a government takeover of healthcare would
actually cost. According to the best-case estimates on the left, Medicare for
All could cost a
whopping $32 trillion.
Despite
their claims to the contrary, Biden and Harris would have to raise taxes on
every American to fund their healthcare takeover, not just “the rich.”
The
nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) projects
that financing a $30
trillion Medicare for All plan would require some combination of the following
tax hikes: a 32 percent payroll tax, a 25 percent income surtax, doubling all
income tax rates, or a 42 percent value added tax (VAT). The federal government
would have to reduce non-health spending by 80 percent or increase the national
debt to 105 percent of GDP to come close to financing Medicare for All.
Medicare for
All would also destroy the economy and kill jobs. Analysis from the Penn
Wharton Budget Model and CRFB projections shows that a
deficit-financed government takeover of healthcare could kill up to 17 million
jobs and shrink the economy by up to 7.3 percent in 2030. This is the last
outcome we need as our economy recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Government-run
healthcare is just the tip of Biden-Harris tax-and-spend iceberg, as both
candidates support raising your taxes to fund radical new expansions of
government. Throughout the campaign, Biden has pledged $4 trillion in new or
higher taxes on the American people, quadrupling failed 2016 candidate Hillary
Clinton’s call for $1 trillion in tax hikes. Biden and Harris are united on
repealing the Republican-passed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Such repeal would raise
taxes on over 90 percent of Americans.
As Americans
decide who will earn their vote in November, they should keep in mind that
Harris and Biden are “completely aligned” on healthcare. If elected, their plan
for government takeover of healthcare would ultimately raise taxes by tens of
trillions of dollars, decimate our economy, and kill tens of millions of
American jobs.
Tom Hebert
is a Policy Analyst at Americans for Tax Reform.
No comments:
Post a Comment