If Kamala Harris really wanted to cut taxes, she could do so now: Maria Bartiromo
'Sunday Morning Futures' anchor Maria Bartiromo discusses Kamala Harris vowing to end taxes on tips and compares the economic differences between the two campaigns.
As Vice President Kamala Harris tries to articulate her economic plans, it is clear that she intends to continue to spend more money, and in doing so, also wants to raise taxes, at least for some Americans.
Her attempt at an explanation includes one tired refrain, a carry-over from the Biden-Harris agenda: the wealthy aren’t paying their fair share and we need to get them to pay more.
What the wealthy pay in taxes cannot be characterized as fair, but not in the way that Harris explains.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at Cochise College Douglas Campus in Douglas, Arizona, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
According to Treasury data, federal income taxes account for about half of government revenue. Of those federal income taxes, per the Tax Foundation, about half of taxpayers paid around 98% of that total.
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As you dig into the numbers, they become even more "unfair."
The National Taxpayers Union Foundation’s data from 2021 showed that the top 1% of earners made 26.3% of Adjusted Gross Income (AGI), yet they paid 45.8% of federal income taxes. One percent of the people paying almost 46% of taxes is definitely not fair, but Harris wants more.
When the data is expanded, the top 10% of earners had 52.6% of AGI, but paid 75.8% of federal income taxes.
The bottom 50% of earners had 10.4% of AGI, but only paid just more than 2.3% of federal income taxes.
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And, somewhere in the neighborhood of 40% of U.S. households pay no federal income taxes at all.
Those who pay abundantly for the federal government and its "services" are berated by Harris and friends that they aren’t paying enough, which is then voted into being by the people who carry little to none of the federal income tax burden. That sounds… unfair.
What is also unfair is the creep of tax collections and overspending.
For FY 2024, the U.S. government is expected to take in, primarily from taxes, almost $5.1 trillion. That’s an increase of around 47% from five years ago. It’s a staggering amount, larger than the GDP of every country in the world, other than the U.S. and China. Yet, it’s still not enough and the government plans to run a more than $2 trillion deficit on top of that. That’s… unfair.
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And, while we are talking about unfair taxes, let’s not forget that the massive inflation that the Biden-Harris agenda unleashed upon all Americans, stealing their purchasing power, making the cost of everyday living a struggle, and putting the ability to invest and get ahead out of reach. As famed economist Milton Friedman once said, "Inflation is the one form of taxation that can be imposed without legislation." That sounds… unfair.
The government spends too much, and it takes too much, particularly from those who have been successful, painting achievement and success as a punishable offense and government dependence as a virtue. That doesn’t sound American, that sounds socialist at best.
Yet, Harris will say that those who have done well need to be further penalized, while continuing to overspend and devalue the earnings of all Americans. And that’s before layering on any of her ultra-destructive proposals on top of raising income taxes, which include higher capital gains taxes, unrealized gains taxes, and other economically illiterate and ruinous policies.
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When it comes to the government, what is unfair is how much they are taxing productive Americans, how many Americans have no skin in the game, and how much government spending is creating a fiscal train wreck.
Calling out that unfairness needs to be done over and over again.
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