Republicans Shouldn't Shy Away From the Tax Debate

As the midterm election campaigns start to heat up, a key question for voters is what will Democrats do if they win control of Congress in November?  They do not talk about it,  but it is almost certain they will do what they did the last time they had control—-raise taxes and increase spending. 

As the Wall Street Journal has noted, Democrats are “on a taxing binge,” with Democrats in Washington and across the country proposing all sorts of tax increases.  Republicans should be warning voters about these tax hikes, and promising instead to cut not raise everyone’s taxes. 

If Democrats had been in control during this Congress, every taxpayer would be paying higher federal taxes today, and life would be much more unaffordable.  A series of tax cuts were scheduled to expire last year, and Republicans moved to extend and expand the tax cuts.  But every single Democrat in the House and Senate voted to block the tax cuts and allow massive tax increases to go into effect. 

If they had prevailed, federal income taxes would have increased by $500 billion a year.  Tax rates today would be higher for every taxpayer.  A median income family of four would be paying $3,000 a year more in taxes.  As many as 26 million small businesses would be paying higher tax rates.  Economic growth would be slower, and unemployment would be higher.

If they win in November, they will try to raise taxes again.  A top Democratic economic adviser, Bharat Ramamurti, who served in the Biden-Harris White House and was an adviser to Senator Elizabeth Warren, is urging Democrats to pass “major new tax increases on a larger scale than ever before to pay for new spending programs. 

For four years during the Biden-Harris administration, they proposed substantial tax increases, higher individual tax rates, higher capital gains tax rates, higher taxes on small businesses, and higher corporate tax rates.  They claimed their tax hikes would just hit the wealthy and big corporations.  But these higher tax rates would in fact hurt working people, lowering their incomes, threatening their jobs, and reducing their retirement savings.

Wall Street Journal tax reporter Richard Rubin has pointed out that “Democrats ignore the effects of corporate tax increases on middle-class workers and shareholders.”  Study after study shows that the higher tax rates will lead to fewer jobs and lower incomes for working people. 

Republicans should not shy away from the tax debate.  They need to push back against tax increases, and let voters know what Democrats will do if they win in November.  They also need to start pushing for real tax relief, reducing tax rates for every taxpayer, and enacting pro-growth tax reforms to encourage greater economic growth and prosperity for all.