[ad_1]
Photo:
Getty Images/iStockphoto
Senate Democrats voted to raise taxes by some $313 billion on Sunday, and the House is expected to follow on a party-line vote on Friday. In case you think Congress needs the money, on Monday the Congressional Budget Office reported that tax revenues this fiscal year continue to roll in at a galloping pace.
Tax receipts through July, the first 10 months of the fiscal year, rose 24%, or $789 billion from a year earlier. Yes, you read that right. Tax receipts in 10 months surpassed $4.1 trillion under current tax laws and before this new tax increase.
Who’s paying? Well, you are. Individual tax payments rose 33%, or $559 billion, to $2.26 trillion through the first 10 months. Payroll taxes rose 14%, while corporate income taxes rose 12% to $315 trillion. CBO deadpans that the revenue lift “was attributable in part to higher total wages and salaries, particularly among relatively high-income workers whose earnings are subject to higher tax rates.”
In other words, as workers earn more, they move into higher tax brackets. Their real wages after inflation may not be going up, but their taxes are. Or to turn around a
Joe Biden
phrase, the affluent are already paying more than their fair share.
The federal budget deficit for the 10 months remained needlessly high at $727 billion because federal outlays were $4.84 trillion. This was down substantially from a year earlier thanks to the end of some Covid payments. But Medicaid continued to spike, rising 14% through July to $489 billion.
CBO explains that Medicaid “enrollment has risen largely because the Families First Coronavirus Relief Act requires states to maintain the eligibility of all enrollees until the end of the public health emergency.” We told you this is one reason the Biden Administration wants an eternal Covid emergency.
The budget message is that Congress should be fat and happy, and it doesn’t need a tax increase, but you’re getting one anyway.
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
[ad_2]
Source link
(This article is generated through the syndicated feeds, Financetin doesn’t own any part of this article)
