WSJ: Dems’ Welfare Expansion: “Steep Taxes on Middle Earners” and “Slam the Poor”
Democrats’ largest expansion of the welfare state in history is paid for with tax hikes on the middle class and Main Street businesses, the Wall Street Journal editorial board writes:
“In the coming days you will hear that the U.S. is the only developed country that doesn’t provide paid leave. What won’t be mentioned: These policies haven’t delivered on promises like increasing birth rates or narrowing career earnings gaps between men and women. Or that they are funded with steep taxes on middle earners and value-added taxes that slam the poor.”
KEY EXCERPTS:
- “The dirty secret is that government leave programs end up helping middle-income folks who can live on partial pay.”
- “A 2013 analysis out of California, which offers a state benefit, found that less than 4% of claimants earned less than $12,000; more than 20% earned north of $84,000. Based on the Ways and Means bill’s formula, a new parent earning $200,000 a year could be eligible for more than $1,000 a week for 12 weeks every year. No matter if this person is married to another six-figure earner, who can also claim the leave.”
- “Treasury can reimburse employers who furnish comprehensive paid leave up to 90% of average costs. So taxpayers will subsidize time off for management consultants, accountants and other well-paid professionals.”
- “Proponents also claim the program will make workers more attached to the labor force. Yet the bill doesn’t even stipulate that workers must be currently employed to receive benefits; they only need a de minimis wage history. Democrats in committee rejected a GOP amendment to require more work history.”
CLICK HERE to read the full editorial.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
The Last Thing Americans Need is Higher Taxes to Pay for Democrats’ Untargeted Welfare-Without-Work Policies.
- Republican tax reform helped strengthen families’ financial security and encouraged work by doubling the Child Tax Credit and securing the Family and Medical Leave Tax Credit.
- But Democrats want to unwind these benefits by turning the Child Tax Credit into Welfare-Without-Work – which if they make permanent will harm families, risk the loss of billions of taxpayer dollars in waste and fraud, and cost American jobs.
- Struggling families need good paying jobs, not endless government checks.
READ: BRADY: Never Has Our Government Wasted So Much to Kill So Many American Jobs
Democrats’ Dangerous Expansion of the Welfare State is Sending Prices Soaring.
- We’re already seeing the consequences of Biden’s economic blunders: cash-strapped families are falling behind as real wages decline.
- Eighty percent of Americans oppose these tax hikes right now, as they struggle to keep up with higher prices and lower wages due to rising Bidenflation – a result of Democrats’ dangerous expansion of the welfare state.
- Biden’s unemployment benefits have been crushing Main Street businesses with labor shortages and preventing a return to work.