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Biden pitches tax plan in Pennsylvania as Trump stews in court

John T. Bennett, CQ-Roll Call on

Published in Political News

President Joe Biden pitched voters Tuesday in Pennsylvania — a crown jewel among swing states — on his tax record and ideas a day after Donald Trump posted a video on social media attacking the incumbent on that very issue.

“While you work hard and pay your taxes, Trump wants to give his billionaire friends the power to avoid paying even what they already owe, not what they should be paying,” Biden said. “Folks, he’s coming for your money, your health care, your Social Security. And we’re not going to let it happen.”

Speaking to voters in Scranton, Biden pitched the overall tax code as a way to pay for things voters want, including health care, education and defense, while knocking Republicans’ long-held doctrine of Ronald Reagan’s “trickle-down economics,” a version of which Trump also describes in public remarks.

“But here’s the deal,” the Democratic president said. “It’s never worked. The benefits don’t trickle down. And the very wealthy pay less in taxes. We have to borrow more and invest less in the things that families really need, from schools, hospitals, health care, roads, bridges, and so much more.”

The day’s split screen was striking: Biden at his first stop in a three-day Pennsylvania swing — while Trump was back in a Manhattan courtroom as the defendant in a criminal hush money case.

“I should be right now in Pennsylvania, in Florida, in many other states, in North Carolina, Georgia, campaigning. This is all coming from the Biden White House because the guy can’t put two sentences together,” Trump said while entering the courtroom, though there is no evidence the president is involved in what is a New York state case.

 

While Trump was on trial, Biden was on the trail, where he also will be Wednesday with a stop in Pittsburgh and Thursday with another in Philadelphia. Pennsylvania’s primary is April 23.

Biden blames Trump’s and Republicans’ tax and economic policies for job losses in places like northeastern Pennsylvania.

“Because what happens when the factory closes in Scranton or anywhere around the country, when a school is underfunded, when inequity grows larger and larger, it puts the middle class further out of reach, and rips the dignity and pride and hope out of communities all across the country, including right here in Pennsylvania,” he said.

“Folks, trickle-down economics failed the middle class,” he said. “It failed America. And the truth is Donald Trump embodies that failure — he wants to double-down on trickle down.”

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