Biden Tells Americans To Pay Up

During a speech to members of a firefighters union in Washington, D.C. on Monday, President Biden reiterated his proposal to increase taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations. He emphasized that it is unfair for firefighters, and Americans like them, to pay higher taxes than billionaires.

In transcript provided by Fox, during his speech President Biden said, “You know what [a billionaire’s] average tax rate is? Three – 3%. Poor people. That’s why I’m proposing a billionaire tax because no billionaire should be paying a lower tax rate than a firefighter. Nobody. And by the way, they still have hundreds of billions of dollars. It’s not like it’s going to be a great sacrifice.”

Sadly however according to the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank specializing in tax policy, the wealthiest 1% of taxpayers contributed 42.3% of the total federal income tax revenue in 2020. On the other hand, the bottom 50% of taxpayers only paid 2.3% of the federal individual income taxes.

President Biden has expressed his desire to reduce the national deficit while ensuring that billionaires and corporations pay their fair share. He stated that his administration has lowered the deficit by $1.7 trillion in the past two years.

According to fact-checkers, although the deficit decreased by $1.7 trillion, it was not solely due to President Biden’s fiscal policies. Some experts have pointed out that the president’s policies may have even contributed to the national debt.