Bert Dirschell
Centertown
Dear Editor:
President Joe Biden pledged not to raise taxes on families earning less than $400,000. While campaigning, candidate Biden said he would roll back the Donald Trump tax cuts. The Tax Policy Center estimated that in 2018 the Trump tax cuts reduced taxes for 30 percent of those with $10-20k income (it is tough to lower the taxes of those who pay very little). Fifty-one percent of those with a $20-30k income saw a decrease; as did 65 percent of those with a $30-40k income and 74 percent of those with a $40-50k income.
President Biden has been very vocal about raising taxes on business. The primary purpose for taxing business is because business taxes are hidden, we consumers pay them, but we don't "see" them. A business considers a tax just another cost of production; all costs are passed through to the end consumer of their product. It is amazing that so many seem unable to grasp that simple concept. Are U.S. voters so dumb that they think business tax increases won't be passed through to the end purchasers? Do the majority of voters actually believe that increased taxes on, say oil companies, won't be passed through to us in the pump price?
Federal receipts (tax collections) hit new record highs every year from 2013-19. Federal collections increased from an average of $20,300/household in 2013 to $27,000/household in 2019. The problem is that the vote buyers in D.C. increased spending at an even faster rate. If federal spending in 2019 had been held to the same as it was in 2007, before the recession, the federal government would have had a $735 billion dollar surplus; instead, D.C. vote buyers increased spending at such a horrendous rate that there was a $984 billion deficit.
President Biden seems hell-bent on continuing the drunken spending spree of the federal government. He proposed spending $2.3 trillion on "infrastructure." The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimated the FY2021 deficit, which does not include any new "infrastructure" spending, will be $3.4 trillion, 3.5 times as large as the FY2019 deficit. Most "infrastructure" spending should be funded at the state/local level, if it is worthwhile. Instead, the vote buyers in D.C. will fund the spending with more "free money," more debt piled on our children, and we will re-elect them.