Biden Budget Chief Won’t Say How Much Tax Is ‘Fair Share’ for the Wealthy

Shalanda White House Budget Director Shalanda Youth refused to tell us how much is sufficient when we asked her to give an exact figure. “fair share” The taxes that the richest Americans should pay.

President Joe Biden repeatedly stated that his budget proposal for 2024 ensures that the rich pay their fair share of taxes. Young reiterated this theme often during testimony before the Senate Committee on the Budget on February 15.

“Some analyses show some millionaires have an effective tax rate of 8 percent. The president believes that is inherently unfair. He believes that the tax code needs to be changed to make sure that everyone pays their fair share in this country, not just working families. And we have several proposals in which to do that,” Young said.

“At what point will you consider the wealthy to be paying their fair share?” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) asked.

Johnson cited The Tax Foundation’s findings, which are nonpartisan and show that the top 1% of Americans earn 22.2 percent of the national income and pay 42.3 percent of income tax.

Johnson stated that the top 1 per cent earned 21 percent of America’s income and paid 24 percent of federal taxes.

Young didn’t answer Johnson’s direct question and cited again the statistic that the nation’s 400 wealthiest families paid an income tax rate effective at 8 percent.

Johnson countered by pointing out that the top 1% of Americans pay an income tax rate effective at 26 percent, while the bottom 50% of earners pay a rate effective at 3.1 percent.

“Again, I want to know, what should the top 1 percent pay in terms of total income tax?” Johnson asked. “What should they pay as a percent of total tax?”

Young did not offer a tax rate ideal for wealthy people, but she offered to compare her analysis of top earners’ tax with Johnson’s.

He also challenged the claim of the president that his administration reduced the federal deficit to $1.7 trillion. The senator cited annual deficits as high as $1.37 trillion in 2022, $1.5 billion projected for 2023, $1.8 trillion for 2024, and $1.8 trillion for 2024 in President Trump’s budget proposal.

“How can you claim this is reducing the deficit?” Johnson asked.

“Easily,” Young explained that the reduction was calculated over 10 years. “If you go look at 2033, the President’s budget would bring down deficits by $2.9 trillion.”

Johnson stated that most people assume that deficit reduction will be measured over a period of 10 years, and not year-over-year.

Johnson spoke out in regard to the anticipated 2024 deficit in spending. “That’s a massive deficit—$1.8 trillion.”

“What do you think is sparking inflation, which caused the Fed to start increasing interest rates, which is causing the run of these banks?” The senator was referring to the failures of Signature Bank and Silicon Valley Bank in the five days preceding.

“Hopefully we all realize that inflation is a global phenomenon,” Young said.

“The UK hasn’t had the same laws over the last few years that the United States has, yet it has inflation. India the same.”