Taxpayers Protection Alliance Reacts to President Biden’s FY2024 Budget Proposal

For Immediate Release                                                 Contact: Abigail Graham: (202) 417-7235

March 9, 2023                                                             

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, as President Joe Biden released his proposed budget for fiscal year (FY) 2024, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) highlights the glaring spending and tax hike proposals included in the budget. President Biden’s budget proposal does nothing to address Washington’s profligate spending.

In response, TPA President David Williams, offered the following comment:

“The federal government’s spending habits have never been worse than they have been over the last few years. Where trillion-dollar deficits used to be a rarity, they are unfortunately now the norm. This budget proposes to hammer an already reeling economy with a barrage of tax hikes, which will ultimately disincentivize investment in American businesses.

“Included in the proposal is a minimum wealth tax on Americans with a net worth of $100 million or more. Not only is a wealth tax almost certainly unconstitutional—as it is a direct tax that is not apportioned across the nation equally—but it also misunderstands net worth. Net worth does not mean cash on hand. It means assets, which could include businesses, real estate, and equipment. Forcing business owners to pay new taxes on non-liquid, productive assets would devastate the economy. Net worth changes daily and is an impossible number to tax.

“The proposal would also raise the corporate tax from 21 to 28 percent. This is another anti-business policy that would make growth harder to come by and punish investment in America’s economy. It would also take needed resources away from research, development, and innovation. This money is far better spent in the hands of American innovators than the federal government.

“With the President’s focus on trimming back the excesses of large organizations, he should start with the U.S. government. Spending in the budget is astronomical. The request for next year is $6.9 trillion, which would be higher than any single year during the height of the pandemic. 

“Because of the lack of focus on spending, the debt-to-GDP ratio will continue to rise over the next ten years. This is unsustainable and will create a world where the nation spends more servicing the debt than on most major programs. By FY2032, interest costs will be roughly $1.2 trillion, likely larger than the Defense budget.

“The President’s Budget includes a 3.2 percent increase in Defense spending and a more than seven percent increase in non-defense spending.  That shows the irresponsibility of the budget and why it should be rejected by every member of Congress, regardless of political affiliation. 

“This budget was an opportunity to address the spending habits that ail the nation. Instead it neglects key areas – like Social Security reform – and other major spending categories. It does so in favor of an approach that will go after American businesses, punish success, and discourage investment and innovation. This is hardly a solution to America’s issues.

“TPA hopes that congressional leadership will come forward with a more serious budget to address the nation’s fiscal health soon.”

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Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to educating the public through the research, analysis and dissemination of information on the government’s effects on the economy.