What Else Is Joe Manchin Wrong About?

Joe Manchin Was Wrong About Democrats’ $2 Trillion Spending Bill In 2021, Saying It Wouldn’t Cause Inflation, And Is Now Saying The Same Thing About Democrats’ Latest Taxing And Spending Spree

In March 2021, Manchin Was Wrong That Democrats’ $2 Trillion Stimulus Bill Wouldn’t Overheat The Economy And Cause Inflation And Provided The Deciding Vote For That Legislation

FOX NEWS’ CHRIS WALLACE: “But what about this argument that the economy is only down $700 billion only, but it's down $700 billion and you're spending $1.9 trillion, and that you may end up overheating the economy and causing inflation, sir?”
SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D-WV): “Well, I hope we don't, I don't think we will because, again, as I said, we spread it out. We didn't throw it all at one time.” (Fox’s “Fox News Sunday,” 3/7/2021)

Sen. Manchin was the 50^th vote for Democrats’ 2021 partisan spending bill. (H.R.1319, Roll Call Vote #110: Passed 50-49: D 48-0; R 0-49; I 2-0, 3/06/2021; Manchin voted Yea)

Now Manchin Insists ‘There Can’t Be One Thing’ In His New Reckless Taxing And Spending Bill That Can Add To Inflation

MANCHIN: “I told my staff to start scrubbing it. I said scrub this bill down. There can’t be one thing that you can say ‘oh that caused inflation.’ … Everything we have in there cannot looked on as inflammatory. … The people of West Virginia can’t handle the high cost and high prices that they’re forced upon now.” (MetroNews’ “Talkline with Hoppy Kercheval,” 7/28/2022)

MANCHIN: “This is not adding to inflation.” (ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” 7/31/2022)

But The Penn Wharton Budget Model, Manchin’s Preferred Economic Experts, Estimated That His Bill Would Increase Inflation While Inflation Is Currently High And ‘Likely Won’t Reduce Inflation At All’

PENN WHARTON BUDGET MODEL: “We estimate that the Inflation Reduction Act will produce a very small increase in inflation for the first few years, up to 0.05 percent points in 2024. We estimate a 0.25 percentage point fall in the PCE price index by the late 2020s. These point estimates, however, are not statistically different than zero, thereby indicating a very low level of confidence that the legislation will have any impact on inflation.” (“Inflation Reduction Act: Preliminary Estimates Of Budgetary And Macroeconomic Effects,” Penn Wharton Budget Model, 7/29/2022)

• “The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, the breakthrough US legislative deal on key parts of President Joe Biden’s agenda, likely won’t reduce inflation at all, according to a study. And that’s coming from researchers influential with the senator whose vote was crucial to sealing the deal, Joe Manchin of West Virginia. The study, from the Penn Wharton Budget Model, estimates the act would cause inflation to ‘very slightly’ rise until 2024 then slide after that. Overall, the researchers said in the report Friday, there’s ‘low confidence that the legislation will have any impact on inflation.’” (“‘Inflation Reduction Act’ Has Little Inflation Help, UPenn Study Says,” Bloomberg, 7/29/2022)

“The Biden administration’s economic team has a new, wonky enemy: The Penn Wharton Budget Model (PWBM). The model, an initiative of the University of Pennsylvania, has emerged as a surprise complication for the passage of Biden’s $1.75 trillion reconciliation bill. In the process, it has drawn the ire of top White House officials. That’s because while there are many economic analyses of the bill out there, the PWBM has proven influential with one particularly important audience: Sen. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.), who takes its findings seriously, according to people familiar with the matter.” (“The Wharton Wonks Giving The White House Fits,” Politico’s West Wing Playbook, 11/09/2021)

Manchin Is Now Claiming That Democrats’ Taxing And Spending Spree Won’t Raise Taxes, Despite Multiple Economic Analyses Demonstrating That It Does

On Sunday, Manchin Insisted Over And Over, ‘I’m Not Raising Any Taxes’

FOX NEWS’ BRET BAIER: “So in 2010, you said this: ‘I don’t think during a time of recession, you mess with any of the taxes or increase any taxes.’ This bill does that…. Technically, we’re in a recession. And technically, according to multiple different organizations, this bill does raise taxes.”
SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D-WV): “They’re wrong. It does not raise taxes, and I’ve said this before, I said all we did was closed loopholes as you heard…. So we did not raise taxes. We’ve closed loopholes. That’s all we did. I made you sure there was no tax increases in this whatsoever.” (Fox’s “Fox News Sunday,” 7/31/2022)

NBC’s CHUCK TODD: “The initial criticism of this bill from Republicans is … You should not increase any taxes during a time of recession. Why is now the right time to hit certain businesses with a tax hike?”
MANCHIN: “First of all, Chuck, I agree with my Republican friends. We should not increase taxes, and we did not increase taxes, Chuck.” (NBC’s “Meet the Press,” 7/31/2022)

MANCHIN: “So, I’m not raising any taxes.” (CBS’ “Face the Nation,” 7/31/2022)

But Manchin’s Bill Explicitly Increases Multiple Taxes, Many Of Which Will Hit Americans Making Less Than $400,000 Per Year

“Biden vowed never to raise taxes on any Americans making less than $400,000 annually. Yet according to the Joint Committee on Taxation, the Schumer-Manchin bill does just that. Up to $16.7 billion worth of tax increases, JCT estimates.” (Punchbowl News AM, 8/01/2022)

According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, the latest iteration of Democrats’ reckless taxing and spending bill would raise nearly $17 billion in taxes from Americans earning less than $200,000. (U.S. Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member, Press Release, 7/30/2022)

• More than half of all new tax revenue from the reckless taxing and spending bill comes from Americans earning under $500,000. (U.S. Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member, Press Release, 7/30/2022)

“Manufacturers and other companies making capital investments could pay the bulk of the new corporate minimum tax in Senate Democrats’ fast-moving fiscal legislation, according to an analysis of the plan. The 15% minimum tax would take effect next year and apply to U.S.-based companies that report financial-statement profits averaging at least $1 billion over three years, according to legislation released this week that mirrors a House-passed bill from last year. The proposal, if it becomes law, would raise companies’ tax bills until they hit that minimum rate.” (“Democrats’ Corporate Tax Plan Threatens Higher Bills for Manufacturers,” The Wall Street Journal, 7/30/2022)

• “But much of the money would likely come from companies that report low tax rates now because their capital investments—in factories and machines, for example—are treated differently in tax and financial accounting. Overall, the plan would affect about 150 companies annually and raise about $313 billion over a decade, according to a report this week from the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation. Nearly half of the revenue would come from manufacturers, the committee said, using a broad definition that might include some pharmaceutical and technology companies. For accounting purposes, deductions for capital investments are spread over the life of the asset. For tax purposes, they are often accelerated, reducing current tax rates. The proposal, included in a deal that could pass the Senate as early as next week, would largely erase that difference for affected companies, raising their taxes now and deferring or denying the benefit of accelerated depreciation. An analysis from the Tax Foundation, which favors simpler tax systems with lower rates, found that the coal, automobile and utilities industries would face larger tax bills.” (“Democrats’ Corporate Tax Plan Threatens Higher Bills for Manufacturers,” The Wall Street Journal, 7/30/2022)

“The climate and tax spending deal announced last week by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Joe Manchin could cost the oil industry $25 billion in new taxes. The legislation, which may get a Senate vote as soon as next week, would reinstate and increase a long-lapsed tax on crude and imported petroleum products to 16.4 cents per gallon, according to a summary of the plan released Sunday by the Senate’s tax-writing committee. … The Superfund tax, which previously stood at 9.7 cents per barrel until it lapsed at the end of 1995, is paid by refiners and other importers to help fund the clean-up of hazardous waste sites. In addition to increasing the tax, the Senate proposal would index the fee to inflation.” (“Manchin Spending Deal Includes Billions in Taxes on Oil Sector,” Bloomberg, 7/31/2022)

“The 725-page bill released last week would also impose other costs for the oil and gas industry. It places a new first-time fee on methane emissions rising to as much as $1,500 a ton and increases the royalty rate companies pay to the government for oil and gas produced on federal land.” (“Manchin Spending Deal Includes Billions in Taxes on Oil Sector,” Bloomberg, 7/31/2022)