Over the last two years, working-class Americans have struggled to get by in an economy where the cost of everything from gas to groceries has risen at an alarming rate. You would hope that President Joe Biden would listen to Americans’ pleas and get serious about ending this economic crisis, where price spikes have cost American workers two months of pay. Unfortunately, as Biden made clear in his recently released $6.9 trillion budget proposal for next year, he is doubling down on the same failed policies that have made life needlessly difficult for hardworking Americans. Making matters worse, he wants to hit these families, farmers, and small businesses with $4.7 trillion in new taxes to cover the cost of all the welfare for the wealthy and wasteful spending he included in his 2024 budget proposal.
Once again, Biden and Washington Democrats are treating family farms like piggy banks for their Green New Deal. Biden’s budget calls for a $77 billion increase in the death tax, which forces family farms, ranches, and other generational businesses to sell off assets to pay an enormous tax bill to Washington. But that’s not all – he is also calling for a new, supercharged death tax with a repeal of what is known as stepped-up basis. The last thing grieving Americans need is to be punished for their family’s hard work in building successful farms, ranches, and small businesses that feed the world and drive our economy.
Biden’s budget also takes aim at small businesses – the engines that drive our economy. As Main Street struggles with higher costs and labor shortages, Biden wants to hit them with an avalanche of crippling new taxes – $1.8 trillion to be exact. That’s a recipe for disaster. These tax increases would force many businesses to close their doors – and send their employees home – for good.
Biden is also continuing his war on American-made energy. Instead of taking the government’s boot off the neck of U.S. energy, Biden is pushing for a new $37 billion tax hike on America’s energy producers. Raising taxes on American-made energy would kill jobs, drive energy costs even higher, and increase our reliance on foreign oil. It’s important to remember that Biden’s war on American energy is the reason we saw gas prices hit all-time highs last summer. But as his budget proposal made clear, he could care less that his radical energy agenda is responsible for our nation’s energy crisis.
The day after Biden released his budget, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen appeared in front of the Ways and Means Committee to explain the administration’s devastating tax increase plans and also their proposal to inject the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) with an additional $43.2 billion. The secretary refused to provide some basic details about the administration’s extensive plans to empower the IRS or why it needs an additional $43.2 billion on top of the $80 billion they received last year in the Inflation Act passed by Democrats. After seeing this request for even more taxpayer dollars for the IRS, I asked the secretary: “Is this a joke?” Unfortunately, it’s not – and working-class families are the ones who will suffer the consequences.
After pouring over his budget proposal, I can’t help but ask – does Biden even know his policies are responsible for the worst cost-of-living crisis in 41 years? The good news is that thanks to the new Republican House majority, Biden’s $4.7 trillion tax hike is dead on arrival – just like all the other terrible policies in his budget proposal. But that doesn’t mean Republicans will stand idly by. We will continue fighting for the millions of Americans who were left behind during the two years of one-party Democrat rule.