Biden's Tax Plan Will Hold Back the Economy
It would discourage savings, investment, business formation, and wouldn’t do much to reduce income and wealth inequality.
Joe Biden’s tax plan needs an overhaul.
Photographer: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Most major polls show that Joe Biden has pulled ahead of Donald Trump in the race for the White House. As such, it’s prudent to start considering what his policies may mean for the economy and financial markets, starting with his tax plan. When you get into the details, you realize that although Biden is widely regarded as a centrist Democrat, his proposed plan is anything but.
For starters, Biden credibly threatens to take a tax code that is already steeply progressive and make it even more progressive, with nearly all of the increased tax burden falling on the top 2% of taxpayers. That’s a problem for a couple of big reasons. For one, it would clearly discourage savings, investment, and business formation, potentially causing lasting economic damage. Plus, it wouldn’t do much to reduce income and wealth inequality.