Biden’s tax plan puts America last

OPINION:

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I am often asked whether President Biden is intentionally trying to dismantle the American economy with his imbecile energy, climate change, crime, border, inflation and debt policies. But I’ve always believed these policies are driven by a badly mistaken ideology, not malice.

When I read through the details of Mr. Biden’s new multitrillion-dollar tax plan, it’s hard to come up with any plausible explanation other than that he’s trying to make American industry less competitive. Mr. Biden’s tax scheme would hobble businesses with nearly the highest corporate tax rate in the world — and higher than our primary competitors.

They’re the big winner here if, God forbid, these policies were adopted. Even China and Russia, one communist and one autocratic nation, would have lower tax rates on their businesses than we would on ours.

This will lead to an outmigration of capital from the U.S. to our rivals as sure as river water flows downstream.

One of my first meetings with former President Donald Trump was in early 2020 when I showed him a chart that indicated the U.S. had the highest tax rate of all our competitors. When Mr. Trump saw the chart, he instantly remarked, “This is like a Head Start program for all the countries we compete with.” His goal was to empower American businesses with the lowest rate in the world. We didn’t get the rate down to 15%, but we did reduce it to 21%.

This helped attract more than $1 trillion back into the United States from all corners of the globe — from Switzerland to Bermuda to the European Union. It helped raise incomes for working-class Americans despite being disparaged as a “tax cut for the rich.” As Mr. Trump once put it, because of the lower tax rates and other pro-growth reforms, factories moved from Mexico to Maryland for the first time in decades rather than the other way around.

Meanwhile, in Ireland, the 12.5% corporate tax rate has helped make that nation the fastest-growing land in all of Europe. Ireland even has a budget surplus. That’s right. The lower tax rates have created an usher of revenue.

But Mr. Biden and the Democrats would rather bash big business for not “paying their fair share” than solve the problem sensibly. Ironically, the one industry in this country that pays virtually no business tax is the green energy colossus. Why don’t we start with making them pay their fair share — which clearly isn’t zero.

The White House estimates their plan will raise $500 billion over a decade from corporations. Of course, corporations are owned by 130 million Americans with 401(k) plans and other retirement packages. Not just the top 1% are going to get zapped here.

Economist Kevin Hassett, who was Mr. Trump’s chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, has shown that corporate tax rates are statistically inversely related to worker wages. Lower tax rates mean higher worker pay. So, blue-collar America will pay a large share of the burden of the Biden tax increase.

It’s also important to remember that corporate tax is a second tier of tax on investment income. After the federal and state governments take out one-third of the profits of the business, the shareholders pay a capital gains or dividend tax on top of that. Those taxes can be another 25%, so the effective tax rate on the business profits can range between 40% and 50%.

But the Biden economics team is in denial of this tax penalty. They reject the real-world evidence that high tax rates deter job growth and investment, they ignore the Irish experience, and they pretend that the rich will bear all the burden of a tax that will hurt all American workers and consumers while benefiting our competitors around the globe.

These inane tax-hike policies will put America last — figuratively and literally.

• Stephen Moore is a visiting fellow at The Heritage Foundation and a senior economic adviser to former President Donald Trump. His latest book is “Govzilla: How the Relentless Growth of Government Is Devouring Our Economy.”