Fact Check Team: Biden renews call for higher taxes on billionaires

WASHINGTON (TND) — In the State of The Union earlier this week, President Joe Biden renewed his call for a minimum tax targeting billionaires and protecting taxpayers who earn $400,000 a year or less from tax hikes.

This is part of a larger plan to make sure wealthy Americans and big businesses pay their fair share. The tax system is progressive, meaning wealthier Americans pay more in individual income taxes, corporate taxes, and estate taxes than lower-income Americans.

Meanwhile, lower-income Americans owe a bigger part of their earnings for payroll and excise taxes. In fact, taxpayers in the bottom 90% pay, on average, more in payroll taxes than income taxes.

Biden’s proposal would impose a minimum 20% tax on households with a net worth of more than $100 million which is only the top 0.01% of American households. The wealth of the top sector increased by $6.5 trillion in 2021, according to a Federal Reserve studyand those Americans control 32% of the country’s wealth.

According to the latest IRS data, the top 1% of taxpayers earned almost a quarter of total adjusted gross income in 2020 and paid 42.3% of all federal income taxes. That adds up to over $723 billion in income tax. But, between 2018 and 2020, the country’s wealthiest 400 families, which would be affected by Biden's billionaire tax, only paid an average tax rate of 8%. While an American making $70,000 a year pays almost double that.

Despite recession fears, charitable giving is expected to increase this year. Sixty percentof American households participate in some kind of charitable giving. In fact, Americans gave more than $480 billion to charity in 2021.

According to the National Philanthropic Trust, in 2021, the largest source of charitable giving came from individuals. This group represents 67% of all donations. The rest of the donations come from corporations and foundations.

When you donate cash to a public charity, you can shave off up to 60% of your adjusted gross income. The wealthiest Americans give the most, but people making less than $50,000 a year are the second highest givers. People making between $100,000 and $500,000 are the lowest in terms of their income percentage.

Forbes lists the top 25 most generous giversand Warren Buffet tops the list. He is worth billions and has given $51.5 billion over his lifetime. Bill Gates and his ex-wife, Melinda, are number two on the list and have given $38.4 billion in their lifetime. George Soros, Michael Bloomberg, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg also make the list.