EDITORIAL: How a corporate tax hike would hurt the middle class

Even presidential candidates aren’t powerful enough to stop unintended consequences.

During her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention, Vice President Kamala Harris said that “a strong middle class has always been critical to America’s success” and that “building that middle class will be a defining goal” of her presidency. In order to achieve that goal, she pledged to “pass a middle-class tax cut that will benefit more than 100 million Americans.”

According to a recent report by the New York Times, the Harris campaign has indicated that she backs President Joe Biden’s plan for $5 trillion in tax hikes, which include an $1.3 trillion increase of the corporate income tax. As Eric Boehm of Reason pointed out, however, nearly all Americans — middle class or otherwise — would face a higher federal tax burden if Harris followed through on Biden’s proposal to raise the corporate income tax from 21 percent to 28 percent.

Boehm noted that the Times parroted a longtime and confusing Biden talking point that “no one making less than $400,000 a year would see their taxes go up.” That’ s a false claim that Harris is apparently preparing to embrace.

Harris campaign spokesperson James Singer also parroted this claim, telling NBC News that a Harris presidency would “focus on creating an opportunity economy for the middle class that advances their economic security, stability and dignity.” He added that the corporate tax hike would be part of “a fiscally responsible way to put money back in the pockets of working people and ensure billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share.”

Not so fast. Mr. Boehm cited the nonpartisan congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, which studied the corporate income tax hike when Biden proposed it earlier this year. It found that even Americans in the lowest income bracket, those earning less than $10,000, would see their taxes go up if the corporate income tax was increased.

This indirect increase happens because companies pass higher corporate taxes on to consumers, workers and investors in the form of inflated prices, reduced wages and lower investment returns.

“If you buy things, have a job or save for retirement, higher corporate income taxes will fall on you — no matter how many times Biden, Harris and the Times pretend otherwise,” Mr. Boehm wrote.

In a recent speech, Vice President Harris said she will be a president who “always fights for the American people.”

She should start by fighting back against her own proposed policies.