Biden wants to tax the poor

[George K]

https://www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/joe-bidens-great-big-tobacco-tax-hike/

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A Tax on the Poor

“Nobody making under 400,000 bucks would have their taxes raised, period, bingo.” — Joe Biden, interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box, May 22, 2020.

“Under my plan, if you make less than $400,000, you won’t pay a single penny more in taxes. You have my word on it.” — Joe Biden, November 2, 2020.

“I give you my word as a Biden: If you make under $400,000 a year, I’ll never raise your taxes one cent.” — President Biden, September 26, 2021.

You notice that when Biden makes this promise, he does not specify federal income taxes. He does not carve out exceptions or offer any qualifications or conditions. In fact he emphasizes how there are no exceptions — “period, bingo,” and so on.

Except, the current version of the “Build Back Better” proposal includes a slew of steep tax increases on tobacco products, including:

. . . doubling rates on cigarettes and increasing rates on all other tobacco and nicotine products to achieve parity with the new rate on cigarettes. The rate on chewing tobacco increases more than 2,000 percent, and the rates on pipe tobacco and snuff over 1,600 percent each. Vapor products, which have not been taxed at the federal level thus far, would be taxed at a rate of $100.66 per 1,810 mg of nicotine. That equals a federal tax on a regular pod-based product of roughly $2.25 per pod — more than the new federal $2.01 rate on a pack of cigarettes).

You may like or use tobacco products, or you may not; that’s not really the issue here — although keep in mind that the existing federal taxes on tobacco products are already considerable: “The federal excise tax on cigarettes is just over $1.00 per pack. Large cigars are taxed at 52.75 percent of the manufacturer’s sales price, with a maximum tax of 40.26 cents per cigar. Pipe and roll-your-own tobacco are taxed at $2.83 and $24.78 per pound, respectively.”

Even if you hate all tobacco products, hate all tobacco users, and want to raise taxes on tobacco products through the roof, there is no getting around the fact that this is a blatant, glaring, flashing-neon-sign violation of Biden’s oft-repeated no tax increase pledge. Tobacco users who make less than $400,000 per year are not exempted from the tax increase.

The fiscally conservative Tax Foundation notes that, “As a source of general fund revenue, the tax is exceedingly regressive. The vast majority of smokers have lower incomes, and tobacco is one of the few goods that have an inverse relationship with income in that consumption increases as income decreases.”

If you don’t like the Tax Foundation’s analysis, turn to the progressive Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Its data show that hiking tobacco taxes does not affect the top 20 percent of incomes in the U.S. in any measurable or significant way, but it would hit the poorest 20 percent of Americans more than any other demographic, increasing their taxes by four-tenths of one percentage point. “Unlike the personal and corporate income tax provisions discussed above, tax increases on tobacco and nicotine would clearly fall most heavily on low-income smokers,” the ITEP reports.

[jon-nyc]

It’s about fucking time. They get way too many tax breaks.

[George K]

@jon-nyc said in Biden wants to tax the poor:

It’s about fucking time. They get way too many tax breaks.

[Copper]

They don't really need money anyway.

They can just steal whatever they want.

[taiwan_girl]

"Sin" taxes are easy to implement. Usually hard to argue against them.

[Doctor Phibes]

That really going to cut into their ability to buy lottery tickets.
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Oops, sorry. I don't know what happened, but I had a bit of a right-wing moment there. This seems to be happening more frequently of late.

[George K]

@taiwan_girl said in Biden wants to tax the poor:

"Sin" taxes are easy to implement. Usually hard to argue against them.

I'm not arguing against "sin" taxes.

Simply taking Lyin' Joe's word at face value:

• “Nobody making under 400,000 bucks would have their taxes raised, period, bingo.”
• “Under my plan, if you make less than $400,000, you won’t pay a single penny more in taxes. You have my word on it.”
• “I give you my word as a Biden: If you make under $400,000 a year, I’ll never raise your taxes one cent.”

As the article says, he made no exceptions to the statements.

[Doctor Phibes]

@george-k said in Biden wants to tax the poor:

@taiwan_girl said in Biden wants to tax the poor:

"Sin" taxes are easy to implement. Usually hard to argue against them.

I'm not arguing against "sin" taxes.

Simply taking Lyin' Joe's word at face value:

• “Nobody making under 400,000 bucks would have their taxes raised, period, bingo.”
• “Under my plan, if you make less than $400,000, you won’t pay a single penny more in taxes. You have my word on it.”
• “I give you my word as a Biden: If you make under $400,000 a year, I’ll never raise your taxes one cent.”

As the article says, he made no exceptions to the statements.

We all know politicians always do this kind of shit. Famous conservative icon Margaret Thatcher promised tax cuts and then she significantly increased VAT after cutting the top band of income tax for all her disgusting rich friends.

The tax on tobacco is a choice. You don't have to buy the smokes, after all, and endanger the health of yourselves and others. Joe is trying to help you.

Not that I'm bitter.

[Copper]

@george-k said in Biden wants to tax the poor:

I'm not arguing against "sin" taxes.

I believe the argument is against political cover provided by media hacks.

It has been 33 years since Mr. Bush the Elder spoke those immortal words "Read my lips".

Google those 3 words, you will see Mr. Bush

Any school child knows those words

Mr. Biden's words are already forgotten