Keystone Today

Commonwealth Foundation Vice President and COO Nathan Benefield recently wrote an op-ed criticizing proposed federal spending plans and detailing how President Joe Biden's spending agenda could hurt Pennsylvanians.

In the op-ed that was published in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Benefield said, "Pennsylvanians can't afford Biden's multitrillion tax-and-spend plan." 

Benefield notes that while Biden claims that this spending program will not increase taxes on the middle class, estimates show that by the end of the decade, anyone making more than $30,000 per year would see an increase in taxes, a direct contradiction of Biden's promise not to raise taxes on the middle class.

Nathan Benefield | Commonwealth Foundation

He makes clear that while there may be some benefits for Pennsylvanians, the negatives would far outweigh the benefits. Targeted taxes on oil and gas, among other things, would be detrimental to the state.

"The bottom line is that exorbitant, counterproductive tax rate increases would cost the state jobs and actually reduce other revenues," Benefield said.

The Commonwealth Foundation gives a summary of the "menu of tax hikes" that Pennsylvanians would find "distasteful." These include imposing new limits on the small business deduction, increasing the basic capital gains tax rate from 20% to 25%, hiking the corporate tax rate to 26.5% from 21%, instituting a new tax on vaping products (which many use to quit smoking) and creating heavier death tax burdens.