Fox News’ Bill Hemmer pushed back against White House economic adviser Jared Bernstein, who said Thursday that raising taxes is a “good idea.”
Bernstein said imposing a 15% minimum tax on large corporations, which has been included in a last-minute tax deal between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, is necessary to help the economy.
“It’s my professional opinion that the highly progressive tax proposal in this bill are very much needed,” the economic adviser said. “One of the things that didn’t come out in the conversation I heard earlier here as I was standing here roasting in the sun, was the fact that the minimum tax that is in this bill on corporations — a 15% book minimum tax — only hits corporations above a billion dollars in profits. And 15% is well below the corporate tax rate of 21%. That is a fairness issue, it is an issue that helps us with this problem.”
“But you know any company that is trying to protect their market cap and they’re trying to protect every quarter they report to stockholders, they’re going to either cut jobs or pass that tax onto consumers that they are doing business with,” Hemmer said. “That’s the reality in American economics.”
The adviser said the taxes do not hit anyone making under $400,000 a year and will help ease inflation by cutting the budget deficit.
“I’m not talking about the government, I’m talking about it being passed on by the companies,” Hemmer said.
“Let me finish. If you look at the record of how tax increases like this play out, not only do they not hurt jobs or investment when you’re targeting the very top of the income scale, but they will do something that’s very important to President Biden and to Senator Manchin as well,” Bernstein said. “They will further reduce the budget deficit, that is disinflationary in this environment. So yes, we think this is a very good idea.”
Watch:

Fox-News-apos-Bill-Hemmer-Pushes-Back-Against-Jared-Bernstein-Who-Says-Raising-Taxes-Is-A-apos-Good-Idea-apos
Read the full story here.
Scroll down to leave a comment and share your thoughts.