The tax and spending package that Sen. Joe Manchin now has blessed is even more destructive and inflationary than the first placeholder version.
The confiscatory taxes on the pharmaceutical industry are still there, along with big subsidies for Obamacare insurance for middle-income people, big spending on green energy, and new taxes on businesses during a recession—all shockingly bad policies.
Today’s lead Wall Street Journal editorial provides a concise description:
“Talk about bad timing. As the economy slouches near recession, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin late Wednesday unveiled a tax-and-spending deal that they call the Inflation Reduction Act. Is their aim to reduce inflation by chilling business investment and the economy?” the Journal asks.
“Mr. Manchin is selling the deal as deficit reduction and a rescue for fossil fuels. If he believes this, he hasn’t thought through the impact of the 725-page bill. A more accurate name would be the Business Investment Reduction and Distortion Act since that will be the result of its $433 billion in climate and healthcare spending, and $615 billion in new taxes and drug price-control ‘savings.’”
The full article can be found on the Galen Institute’s website.