Will Biden’s Tax Bill Solve the Debt Crisis and Fund Medicare?
Summary from the AllSides News Team
The Biden Administration unveiled a new tax proposal Tuesday aimed at reducing the national deficit by $2 trillion over the next decade and funding Medicare programs into the 2050s. The key points of the proposed legislation are a tax increase from 3.8% to 5% on those earning more than $400,000 per year and increasing Medicare’s ability to negotiate prescription drug prices.
Biden’s Argument: In a piece published in The New York Times Opinion, President Biden said some Republican lawmakers have “threatened our economy unless I agree to benefit cuts,” writing that “only in Washington can people claim that they are saving something by destroying it.” Regarding the tax increase, Biden stated, “when Medicare was passed, the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans didn’t have more than five times the wealth of the bottom 50 percent combined, and it only makes sense that some adjustments be made to reflect that reality today.”
Counterargument: The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board deemed the proposal a “huge tax increase paired with prescription-drug rationing that does nothing to reform the health entitlement.” The piece argues the proposed legislation shows “how destructive taxes inevitably expand” and determines the end game for giving Medicare more negotiating power is to “control the prices and access to all pharmaceutical treatments.” The piece concludes the bill has no chance of passing and exists “mainly to bludgeon Republicans as wanting to push seniors off their retirement ice floes.”
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