Biden: ‘No New Taxes’ for Those Earning $400K or Less
Observers on Twitter had some questions about what the pledge would mean in practice.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said late Sunday that there would be “no new taxes” for anyone earning less than $400,000 a year under his administration, prompting advisors and tax planners to raise questions about the move on Twitter Monday.
Biden made his comments during a joint interview with his vice presidential pick, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., on the ABC News program “World News Tonight” with David Muir.
“I will raise taxes for anybody making over $400,000,” Biden told Muir. “Let me tell you why I’m going to do it: It’s about time they start paying their fair share of the responsibility we have. The very wealthy should pay a fair share. Corporations should a fair share.”
“No new taxes” would be imposed on anyone earning less than $400,000 a year, Biden said.
Muir also asked: “Is it smart to tax businesses when you’re trying to recover?”
Biden responded: “It’s smart to tax businesses that are making excessive amounts of money and paying no taxes.”
Jeff Levine, director of advanced planning at Buckingham Wealth Partners, asked in a Monday tweet if Biden’s “… $400k amount would apply to both married couples filing joint returns and single filers. Anyone know?”
Tariq Dennison noted in a reply that he’s “heard a lot of concern about estate taxes / step-up in basis, which would certainly affect lots of families earning less than $400k most years.”
In releasing his economic plan in mid-July, Biden said that requiring the wealthiest Americans to shoulder more of the tax burden and restoring the estate tax to “historical norms” tops his list.
Biden’s 110-page economic plan states that the nation’s “tax system has been rigged against the American people by big corporations and their lobbyists.”
The plan also says, “A guiding principle across our tax agenda is that the wealthiest Americans can shoulder more of the tax burden, including in particular by making investors pay the same tax rates as workers and bringing an end to expensive and unproductive tax loopholes.”