Nearly two months late, President Joe Biden finally released the budget request for fiscal 2023 on Monday.
Unsurprisingly, the Biden budget is bloated with excessive spending, harmful taxes, more regulations, and control over Americans’ lives, along with damaging policy proposals.
Because the federal government has the power to tax and spend, the budget is important.
If we are going to save America from the politicians, bureaucrats, and cultural elites empowered by expansive government spending, it’s necessary to reverse the growth of the size, scope, and reach of the government.
Congress should reject Biden’s budget proposal and instead focus on solving the most important challenges facing the country, such as reversing government spending and inflation, promoting energy independence, empowering parents, and strengthening the rule of law and free enterprise so that the United States can outcompete any competitor, including communist China.
There are five major problems with Biden’s budget:
1) Inflationary and reckless spending
This administration laughably claims that this budget values fiscal accountability.
Already, government spending is unsustainable. Unfortunately, Biden would push the gas pedal on government spending and pretend that there are no consequences.
Inflation levels in America are at an all-time high. hitting 7.9% last month. This inflation has been caused by irresponsible spending and monetary policy, as well as harmful labor, energy and food laws that have pushed the prices higher.
On top of the spending spree Biden and his allies in Congress went on last year, Biden’s budget calls for $72.7 trillion in spending over the next decade—averaging more than $1.4 trillion in higher annual spending than even this year’s extravagant budget.
The debt would rise from $30.2 trillion today, to $44.8 trillion in the next ten years. Fiscal year 2023 would see a budget deficit of $1.2 trillion. It will rise to $1.8 billion by 2032.
That’s like an average family that is already $234,000 in debt spending between $9,300 and $14,000 more than it makes each year, with its total debt reaching $347,000 in just 10 years.
Ordinary households can’t spend without restraint, and the federal government shouldn’t be able to, either. Yet, Biden’s budget represents a total rejection of the idea that the federal government is bound by any sort of constitutional limitations.
The Biden administration’s policies are already eating away at households’ budgets through massive inflation, and this budget would further squeeze them through reckless spending and tax hikes.
2) Radical Policy Priorities
Biden’s budget is a liberal wish-list, with one outrageous policy proposal after the other.
Despite a bipartisan rejection of the radical idea that taxpayers should ever fund abortion, it fails to include the Hyde Amendment. The Hyde Amendment has saved approximately 2.4 million lives since 1976. Biden also proposed a 40% rise in Title X funding. This would dramatically increase federal subsidies for entities that perform abortions.
Even though gas prices have risen to more than $4 per gallon, the Biden budget doubles down on this administration’s dubious Green New Deal agenda that would jeopardize America’s energy diversity and choke our energy supply.
Cronyism involves sending billions in tax dollars to unproven energy sources that liberal elites favor. We should be promoting energy freedom at home in a time where authoritarianism is rampant around the globe.
Biden proposes an unprecedented level of federal funding and control be bestowed on the education establishment, along with a huge increase in subsidies for college education, even though current subsidies are already inflating tuition prices through the roof.
Even though the core subject of a budget document is the nation’s finances, the Biden budget still pays fealty to left-wing social causes throughout.
The main budget document uses the word “equity” 73 times, “equitable” 39 times, “diverse” or “diversity” 18 times, “inclusion” or “inclusive” 18 times, and the specific phrase “transgender, queer, and intersex” five times.
On defense, the Biden administration promotes once again investments in research-and-development, while reducing military capacity through the retirement of aircraft and ships at a faster pace than replacements.
As the Russian invasion of Ukraine shows, the military needs to be able to deter—and if that fails, fight—tonight, not five to 10 years from now.
Furthermore, the Biden Administration requests billions of dollar for initiatives that would be more suited in the Green New Deal than the Department of Defense, instead of investing in military capability and capacity. When it comes to defense, it’s a budget that does not take the threat of China seriously and allows inflation to erode defense dollars.
The budget would allow Medicare and the Social Security trust fund, which are both insolvent in 2026, to be depleted by 2033. Both programs need reform to improve outcomes for those who depend upon them.
3) Harmful tax increases
Biden’s budget proposes $2.5 trillion of tax increases that are harmful to American families.
That doesn’t even include across-the-board tax increases from ending the Trump tax cuts for individuals beginning in 2026. All Americans’ tax rates would increase under Biden’s plan, and the standard deduction would be cut in half.
American businesses would also be affected by the proposed tax increases. The United States would see a 7 percent increase in the corporate tax rate. highestThe 38 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development members have a different corporate tax rate.
Research shows that labor bears between 75% and 100%The burden of corporate tax increases can be seen in lower real wages and reduced employment.
Under Biden’s plan, business expensing for capital investments would start phasing out at the end of this year, making it more expensive to add manufacturing capacity or new equipment.
That’s exactly the wrong policy prescription, going into effect just as America needs more investment here at home in order to outcompete China.
Biden even proposed a first of its kind tax on unrealized capital gainsTo tax the assets of wealthy Americans. Falsely billed as a “billionaire minimum income tax,” this convoluted wealth tax proposal would result in less investment in America, reduced income for workers, and more power for bureaucrats, lawyers, and accountants.
All the new tax provisions result in more money being available for the IRS. The budget calls for an 18% boost in the agency’s funding.
4) Loaded with Gimmicks
On top of the many problems with the spending, taxes, and policies in this budget, it’s also loaded up with gimmicks and rosy economic assumptions—including a reserve fund that could be used to sneak trillions of dollars of new big-government programs on top of what’s directly proposed in this budget.
We know that excessive government spending, burdensome taxes and expensive regulations required by this budget are all contributing factors to economic stagnation. Despite that, the Biden administration imagines its budget will produce low inflation, steady growth, and low unemployment, when in reality, the opposite would be likely.
5) Irresponsibly Late
The law requires the president to submit his budget no later than February 1st. Biden blew the deadline and is now filing his documents nearly two months after due.
At 49 days late, Biden’s fiscal year 2023 budget is the second-latest presidential budget in history (excluding presidential transition years), trailing only President Barack Obama’s 65-day miss for fiscal year 2014.
This flagrant disregard for law and process is yet another example of the lack in discipline by Biden and his administration.
In short, the Biden budget would be irresponsible and detrimental for American families in many different ways.
Congress must reverse the trend of federal inflation and overspending. The first step would be to reject Biden’s budget request and efforts to revive the failed Build Back Better big-government socialist spending bill.
Instead, lawmakers should adopt the Budget Blueprint to reduce excessive government spending and prioritize taxpayer dollars. They should also reform major entitlement programs, restore federalism, promote equality, and protect rights.
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