Back when he was just the then-presidential candidate Barack Obama’s running mate, President Joe Biden told ABC’s “Good Morning America” that the plan was “to take money and put it back in the pocket of middle-class people.”
Declaring that wealthier Americans would have to pay more in taxes, Biden proclaimed, “It’s time to be patriotic … time to jump in, time to be part of the deal, time to help get America out of the rut.”
Unlike many of the 2008 Obama-Biden policy positions, taxing the rich is not a proposal that Biden has abandoned. In a Thursday speech, he declared, “I’m sick and tired of corporate America not paying their fair share.”
.@POTUS: “I’m sick and tired of corporate America not paying their fair share.” pic.twitter.com/0PvS8H6BnL
— The Hill (@thehill) May 6, 2021
If paying more taxes is the litmus test that determines whether or not a rich person is patriotic, then it looks like Biden absolutely hates his country.
The Federalist reported Thursday that upon leaving the vice presidency, the Bidens exploited a potentially illegal tax loophole that saved them hundreds of thousands of dollars in payroll taxes.
Between 2017 and 2019, the Bidens claimed $13.5 million made from speeches and book sales as corporate profits, rather than income, the outlet reported.
This allegedly allowed them to avoid paying payroll taxes, and save more than $500,000 in the process. The payroll taxes in question would have been used to pay for Obamacare and Medicare — programs that Biden publicly championed during his tenure as vice president.
But what was so important that the (extremely wealthy) Biden family supposedly needed the extra cash for? Real estate, of course!
“Throughout our careers, Jill and I have dreamed of being able to buy a place at the beach at home where we can bring the whole family. We feel very lucky that we’re now able to make that happen and are looking forward to spending time with our family in the place that matters most to us in the world,” Biden told the Cape Gazette in June 2017.
If you thought the beach house was the only property the Bidens pursued, this report suggests you would be dead wrong. The Federalist furthered that the Bidens rented a house that same year just outside of Washington, D.C., from Mark Ein, a donor and family friend. The monthly rent was apparently “substantial.”
This wasn’t some small studio to use as a home base. The house “features a grand piano in the living room, contains both a sauna and home gym, and advertises parking for 20-plus cars,” according to the Federalist.
“The property contains so much ‘bling’ that a local real estate brokerage created a video advertising all its luxury features,” the outlet reported. The video mentioned can be viewed below — the level of opulence is disgusting.
But, of course, this man wants you to foot the bill for his trillion dollar spending spree. While this apparent level of hypocrisy is not at all surprising, it is amazing that the Biden administration can peddle this nonsense with a straight face.
Former President George H.W. Bush once remarked that “public service is a noble calling.” Whatever mistakes he made during his administration, the man’s character and commitment to the good of the country were unquestionable.
I could at least forgive Biden if he was doing the wrong thing for the right reasons, but wanton self-interest seems to be winning the day.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
