Graphic shows top tax rates by state only for high-income earners
CLAIM: A graphic shows Biden’s tax plan with top tax rates by state citing California at 62%, New Jersey 60%, New York 58% and New York City at 62%.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: Missing context. The image shows tax rates only for high-income earners under Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s plan, not for the average American making less than $400,000 a year.
THE FACTS: In recent weeks, President Donald Trump’s campaign has pushed a narrative that Biden will raise taxes on American families if elected. But the assertion is overly broad. Biden’s plan calls for raising taxes only on Americans making more than $400,000 a year.
The CNBC graphic being shared on Wednesday showed the combined federal and state tax rates for top earners in California, New Jersey, New York and New York City. The graphic was featured on CNBC during a segment on “Biden’s tax rate highs combined rate could reach 62 percent.”
The graphic was widely shared online, including by the president’s son, Eric Trump, who on Wednesday tweeted a cropped version of the graphic that removed context about the figures.
“Biden’s Tax Plan!,” Trump said in a tweet that received more than 24,000 likes.
Rapper 50 Cent also shared the misleading graphic on Instagram saying “Vote for Trump.”
“For that marginal rate in that tweet, those numbers are right but they apply to a very small set of people making well above $400,000,” said director of policy analysis for the Penn Wharton Budget Model, a nonpartisan, research-based initiative that provides economic analysis of public policy, referring to the graphic.
The group, based at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, released an analysis of Biden’s plan that found that 80 percent of the tax increases would land on the top 1 percent.
CNBC relied on data from the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan tax policy group for the details in the graphic. The group, which analyzed Biden’s tax plan, found that combined top marginal state and local rates for his plan would be in excess of 60 percent for California, Hawaii and New Jersey.
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