Tax hikes, handouts and living with debt instead of the American dream – one former White House economist is taking offense to President Biden’s latest fiscal plan.
"It’s just astonishing, this budget," former Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Kevin Hassett said on "The Bottom Line" Monday. "What they're doing is they're borrowing to gin up GDP, but they're not really getting much GDP out of it. In fact, they're wasting a lot of the money."
President Biden proposed an array of tax hikes in his annual budget request to Congress that would dramatically raise the rates paid by corporations and wealthy Americans.
The president laid out the tax hikes Monday as part of his sweeping budget blueprint for federal spending in fiscal 2025, which begins in October. The higher taxes would be borne largely by Wall Street and the top sliver of U.S. households.
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Altogether, the tax hikes would reduce the federal deficit by about $3 trillion. Money from steeper taxes would also help to pay for expensive new programs floated by Biden, including a monthly tax credit to help some homeowners offset steep mortgage payments, subsidies for child care and lower prescription drugs.
"Joe Biden is really creating an economic disaster. And you have to wonder, are they just ignorant or are they just lying for political power? And my guess is, it's the latter," Hassett said.
"There were 3.3 million jobs created for illegal aliens and people who were living in the U.S. in February 2020. There are a million fewer of them [that] have jobs now," the economist expanded. "And so Biden is borrowing money from the Chinese to give jobs to illegal aliens and he's doubling down on that in the budget, and it's absolutely economic nonsense. It's got to stop."
Specific tax reforms Biden requested include a minimum 25% billionaire tax, quadrupling the corporate stock buyback tax, a 7% increase in corporate taxes, a 5% payroll tax, 21% global minimum tax and closing a carried interest loophole.
"I really think that it's all about politics, and it's really shameful in the fact that there isn't really an honest person left there," Hassett said of the current administration.
Even as Cabinet members like Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg are "shilling for this" budget, according to the economist, Americans have not forgotten about the inflationary consequences of more federal stimulus spending.
"You wonder, why are Americans so upset about inflation? It's because this measure that we're telling them they shouldn't worry about, does it actually account for the things that affect their lives the most? And again, we need a government that pays attention to those things and fixes those things," he said.
Senate Republicans reacted to Biden’s budget on Monday as a "liberal wish list" and "reckless."
"Prices keep going up, interest rates keep going up, and taxes keep going up, but President Biden wants to add another $6.4 trillion in debt over the next four years with more reckless, inflation-fueling spending," Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., slammed the budget in a statement.
According to Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, Biden's "MASSIVE new taxes on the job creators that make & sell what families need" will cause prices to increase.
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Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., claimed Biden's budget doubled down on Biden's inability to relate to Americans.
"There is no serious plan to secure the border, address crime, lower energy prices, or save seniors from an automatic 24% Social Security benefit cut once the program goes insolvent. This is a failure of leadership," he said in a statement.
FOX Business’ Megan Henney and Fox News’ Julia Johnson contributed to this report.
