Biden's new minimum billionaire tax will hit middle class: Americans for Tax Reform president
Grover Norquist argues Biden's plan 'is not workable'
Americans for Tax Reform president slams Biden admin idea to tax unrealized gains
Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist argues the Biden administration proposal to tax unrealized appreciation is going to lead to the IRS needing 'more access to know everything about you.'
Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist squashed President Biden's claim that his new minimum billionaire tax will only impact the rich, arguing that it will also hit the middle class.
Norquist told "Mornings with Maria" on Monday that the idea that this is only going to impact wealthy Americans is how the income tax was "sold," arguing that "all of these taxes are introduced and then moved right down to hit middle-income Americans because that is where the real money is."
His comments came shortly before President Biden unveiled a new minimum tax as part of his 2023 budget request, proposing a 20% rate that would hit both the income and unrealized capital gains of the wealthiest Americans.
Norquist noted that the move to tax unrealized gains, is "taxing the value of assets you own, which go up and down with inflation or with value," but the actual value is unknown.
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"So your friends at the IRS are going to sit there and say, ‘We think that house you own, we think that building, that land you own, that stock you own is worth X or Y,’" he told host Maria Bartiromo. "Some of it is easy to determine, but a lot isn’t."
Norquist then argued that "there is going to be a whole bunch of money made by lawyers" and warned that "the IRS [Internal Revenue Service] is going to need more access to know everything about you."
President Joe Biden (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (AP Photo/Evan Vucci / AP Newsroom)
Dubbed the "Billionaire Minimum Income Tax," the Biden administration proposal would require the top sliver of U.S. households to pay a tax rate of at least 20% on their full income, or the combination of wage income and whatever they made in unrealized gains. If a billionaire is not paying 20% on their income, they will owe a "top-up payment" that makes up the difference to meet the new minimum.
The White House estimated that more than half the revenue generated by the tax would stem from the country's 700 billionaires.
If enacted, the tax is expected to reduce the deficit, which sits at $3 trillion, by about $360 billion over the next decade, and it represents more than a third of the Biden team's plan to trim the spending gap by $1.3 trillion.
Biden's billionaire min income tax will also hit middle class: Americans for Tax Reform president
Grover Norquist argues that the idea that this is only going to impact rich people is how the income tax was 'sold,' noting that 'all of these taxes are introduced and then moved right down to hit middle income Americans.'
Norquist stressed that the plan "is not workable" and argued that "what’s really going to happen is they are going to be taxing the middle class with energy taxes and other things."
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"President Biden is a capitalist and believes that anyone should be able to become a millionaire or a billionaire," the White House said in a statement. "He also believes that it is wrong for America to have a tax code that results in America’s wealthiest households paying a lower tax rate than working families."
FOX Business’ Megan Henney contributed to this report.