Poll: 52 Percent Support Senate Filibuster to Block Tax Increases

A Monmouth University poll reported Thursday 52 percent of Americans support the Senate filibuster when used to block tax increases.

The polls asked whether the filibuster should be used to block “tax rate change” legislation. In this instance, the majority of Americans support the filibuster.

The poll’s margin of error is +/- 3.5 percentage points and was conducted by telephone from April 8 to 12, 2021 with 800 adults in the United States.

During President Joe Biden’s speech to a joint session of Congress to promote his American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan Wednesday, he proposed 12 changes to the tax code. Nine of the changes are direct tax increases.

Despite Biden’s appetite to raise taxes, the Senate is split 50-50 with a needed 60 votes to pass legislation due to the filibuster.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) primarily stands in the way of the Senate canceling the filibuster, as he possesses the tipping vote. Manchin also feels comfortable being the linchpin, telling the New York Times, “What are they [Democrats] going to do? They going to go into West Virginia and campaign against me? Please, that would help me more than anything.”

Therefore, Manchin is perhaps blocking the following tax consequences:

American Jobs Plan 

1. Raising the corporate tax rate to 28 percent from 21 percent;
2. Raising taxes on those making more than $400,000 a year;
3. Repealing tax cuts for income earned by American companies exporting goods and services abroad;
4. Expanding the global minimum tax to 21 percent;
5. Repealing the tax code to limit corporate transactions in which a U.S. company moves its headquarters abroad by becoming a subsidiary of a foreign acquirer;
6. Shifting the tax burden in the energy sector from fossil fuels to clean energy in the form of subsidies.

American Families Plan 

1. Raising the top income-tax rate to 39.6 percent from 37 percent;
2. Raising the capital gains and dividends tax to 39.6 percent from 20 percent for households making more than $1 million;
3. Raising the payroll and investment taxes each by 3.8 percent — the top rates on wages and the death tax would reach 43.4 percent from 23.8 percent;
4. Using the previous 3.8 percent increase to expand over other types of income currently uncovered like active income from S corporations making over $400,000;
5. Adjusting the death tax to include unrealized gains as sold and thus taxable with an exemption of $1 million a person;
6. Limiting the ability for real estate to be exchanged without reporting capital gains income by capping that break at $500,000.

Manchin’s position might be short-lived, as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) received permission to use a different tactic called reconciliation to enact Biden’s radical agenda.

“We need big, bold action. That’s what America needs. We want to do as much of that as we can in a bipartisan way, and we’re proceeding to do that,” Schumer said Monday.