Remember the good ol' days of George H.W. Bush and his policy of, "Read my lips. No new taxes."? Yeah, those sure were the good ol' days alright. Now we are living in a time where we have a senile old man and a slew of other senior citizens in Congress deciding to do so. I mean, why not? They're either rich enough that it doesn't matter to them, or they get away with not paying taxes only to complain about President Trump doing the same thing with his taxes.
Well, get ready for 2023, because taxes are going to be higher for many Americans this year. Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act will come into force on the 1st of January 2023, bringing with it a range of new taxes that will have a direct impact on US homeowners, retirees and smaller businesses.
According to the estimations made by various committees in the House and Senate, this includes an increase in government revenue through regressive taxation of natural gas development to the tune of around $6.5 billion, which is likely to result in significantly increased costs for households due to increased energy bills. A letter from the American Gas Association estimates that this could mean an extra $100 annually for each family, and potentially more than 100,000 jobs put at risk.
In addition, there will be a 16.4 cents-per-barrel tax imposed on crude oil and imported petroleum products that is estimated to bring in $12 billion for the government. This will be followed by a tax increase on coal from surface mining (from $0.25 per ton to $0.55 per ton) and subsurface mining (from $0.50 per ton to $1.10 per ton) which could raise up to an additional 1.2 billion dollars in taxes.
Stock markets are also likely to be affected by these changes with 401(k)s, individual retirement arrangements and pension plans facing a hike of roughly $74 billion through new stock taxes whilst corporations may see their income taxes raised by 15%, estimated at around 225 billion dollars by the Tax Foundation report from last year, which they predict would reduce GDP by 0.1% and lead to job losses amounting 27,000 employees .
But this is what Americans supposedly voted for so.