President Joe Biden demonstrated his economic illiteracy from the beginning by claiming that the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill bouncing between the chambers of Congress would pay for itself.
“My Build Back Better Agenda costs zero dollars,”
he claimed last week.
“Instead of wasting money on tax breaks, loopholes and tax evasion for big corporations and the wealthy, we can make a once-in-a-generation investment in working America,” he continued before repeating his first claim. “And it adds zero dollars to the national debt.”
Although it does, in fact, raise corporate tax rates, businesses, by necessity, have to pass those expenses on to consumers by raising the price of goods and services, and to employees by cutting the size of their workforce wherever possible.
But there are also taxes included that hit lower- and middle-income taxpayers directly, including
doubling the federal tax on tobacco products. It also introduces a federal tax on “smokeless” vaping products for the first time.
Rep. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., found another tax in the 2,500-plus page bill — one that will affect everyone who produces or consumes meat and dairy products. It imposes an annual tax on all methane-producing farm animals.
“The tax is estimated to cost $6,500 per dairy cow, $2,600 per head of cattle, and $500 per swine each year,”
he reported. “That is more than what the animals are worth, it’ll run ranchers out of business.”
The bill would also add thousands of
more IRS agents, who would track all bank transactions exceeding $600.
Grabien founder and editor Tom Elliot made an interesting discovery after performing a word search of the massive bill.
“The word ‘tax’ is used 1,829 times,”
he tweeted. “The word ‘taxes’ is used 69 times. The word ‘taxation’ is used 7 times.”
He added, “Supposedly all of these new taxes add up to $3.5 trillion.”
But even if it did, it wouldn’t be enough, according to The Wall Street Journal editorial board, which called the $3.5 trillion price tag “a phony number.”
The Journal reported that “The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, which is far from a conservative outfit, pegs the real cost over a decade at $5 trillion to $5.5 trillion.”
And to pay for it, instead of raising revenue, the bill, if passed into law, could actually shrink the economy and the revenue that would normally follow.
The Texas Public Policy Foundation
released the result of a study Monday, finding that it would lead to 5.3 million job losses and $3.7 trillion in additional debt over the next 10 years.
And
jobless claims are already rising, despite predictions to the contrary, possibly due to vaccination mandates forcing some employees out of the workforce, and unemployment compensation bonuses still paid in some states.
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., is one of the Democratic holdouts to the “Build Back Better” spend-a-rama, calling it “
fiscal insanity.”
Some real numbers, using figures from fiscal year 2020, might offer some insight as to how insane this bill is.
The
federal treasury received $3.42 trillion ($3,420,000,000,000) in revenue in 2020. However, the government spent $6.55 trillion ($6,550,000,000,000), giving us a $3.13 trillion ($3,130,000,000,000) deficit. That was added to the federal debt, giving us a new national debt of $26.95 trillion ($26,950,000,000,000).
Democrats want to add another $3.5 trillion ($3,500,000,000,000) over the next 10 years.
None of this makes a lot of sense to regular folks, so let’s drop the last eight zeros to convert everything from government-talk to normal taxpayer-speak.
You made $34,200 last year, but you spent $65,500. That gave you $31,300 in new debt, which you put on your VISA card, giving you a $269,500 balance.
You make $34,200 a year, spend almost twice that, and owe VISA $269,500.
And now your kids say, “Hey, let’s spend another $35,000!”
But … but … but, how could this happen? Joe Biden is a moderate!
Here’s how “moderate” Biden is.
He nominated Cornell University law professor Saule Omarova as Comptroller of the Currency this week, who, if confirmed, would control all federally-chartered banks and savings and loans.
She was born in the Soviet Union, graduated from Moscow State University on a Lenin Personal Academic Scholarship, and in her mind she never left the USSR.
Omarova believes that our system of allowing the market determine the cost of goods and services is crazy. In her world, all wages and prices should be set by the federal government. If the Senate confirms her, we’ll have a commie in the White House.
Winston Churchill once observed, ”Americans can always be trusted to do the right thing — once all other possibilities have been exhausted.”
Let’s hope this is the last “possibility.” We can’t afford to go through too many more.
Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and has been a frequent contributor to BizPac Review and Liberty Unyielding. He is also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and an enthusiastic Second Amendment supporter, who can often be found honing his skills at the range. Read Dorstewitz's Reports — More Here.
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