In general, under President Trump’s campaign, the country might see an increase of debt by $700 billion and with Joe Biden’s campaign, the decrease in debt will by $150 billion (http://www.crfb.org/papers/cost-trump-and-biden-campaign-plans.) Government Spending Education Trump’s fiscal policy 2021 for education was released February 2nd. According to USA spending, the total budgetary spend on education was about $73.9 billion with federal direct student loan program, with k-12 education getting the largest portion of 41.5% of the budget. (https://www.usaspending.gov/disaster/covid-19). Trump’s budget for the 2020 $66.6 billion for the department of education which is a decrease of 13.8% of 2018 fiscal policy and 7.8% of 2020 fiscal policy. The budget includes elementary and secondary programs into a $19.4 billion block grant to states which will save taxpayers about $4.7 billion. The new program is supposed to give state and school districts more flexibility in order to meet family and student needs by removing federal intervention. In addition, it includes a great increase for the Career and Technical Education (CTE) of about $900 million to reinforce the workforce. The mission of Trump in the education sector is to support state and school districts in a way where they can provide high-quality education to the country’s students and families and providing a simplified way of funding for universities and increase the access of post-secondary options for every citizen. The budget also includes a $5 billion yearly state scholarships for special education services, tuition for private school, and CTE. https://www.whitehouse.gov/wpcontent/uploads/2020/02/budget_fy21.pdf. I think this is very hard to attain because for a solid educational program there would need to be a bigger budget. Low-income families and college programs will be harmed greatly from these budget cuts and will bring the educational level in the United States down. The economic growth under Biden’s program is deficit financed and is promoted by aggressive government spending. His plan includes raising government spending by increasing taxes. Biden’s plan is to spend a total of $636.6 billion from 2021 to 2024 on k-12, higher education, and student debt loans. Attending college for families with income less than $125,000 will be for free https://www.usaspending.gov/disaster/covid-19). Biden calls for more federal intervention and spending in the public-school system K-12. The federal government will add extra funding to states for education programs in high-poverty and low-income areas. Currently, title I of the Elementary and Secondar Education Act of 1965 receives $16.3 billion in funding. Under Biden’s budget, that would grow to $48 billion because the portion that the state and local funds receive from the federal government will increase significantly (https://www.americanactionforum.org/insight/comparing-trump-and-bidens-k-12-educationplans/). Having a structured program for education around the country may not be perfect for all families, especially for those who want to choose their own education for their children. On the other side, more funding for the education programs was needed in the country with the increase in tuition fees in college and the unemployment rate. After the COVID crisis, more low-income families have been struggling and Biden’s education program will ease education delivery to these people. COVID-19 relief The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) was passed by congress mid crisis and signed by President Trump March 27th, 2020. The (CARES) is a budget of over $2 trillion. The COVID relief has caused a $3.1 trillion government deficit at the end of the fiscal year. This deficit equaled about 15% of the U.S economy which created the biggest gap since the borrowing during World War II. The government under Trump’s spent $6.6 trillion and borrowed 48 cents for every dollar it sent. According to an article by AP, these deficits were expected, and they are more than double the last deficit record of $1.4 trillion during the Great Recession in 2009. Revenues decreased to $44 billion from $3.4 trillion while income tax dropped to about 16% and the unemployment rate increased significantly. https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-business-economy 2bcc6fc65429d957b7f8275b2203f76d . According to USA spending, the estimated spending from the government was about $1.5 trillion while the total budgetary made available was $2.6 trillion. (https://www.usaspending.gov/disaster/covid-19). In March 18th, 2020, the Family First Coronavirus Qaid Package was passed. The FFCAP consisted of free testing for the virus for those who are uninsured. red https://www.ncsl.org/research/fiscal-policy/state-fiscal-responses-to-covid-19.aspx. The government deficit under Trump’s campaign right now is $864 billion due to COVID-19 relief and it isn’t clear if Trump will impose a raise in taxes to fund that (https://www.bostonprivate.com/our-thinking/vault/articles/a-comparison-of-the-trump-andbiden-tax-plans-2507). I think these numbers are pretty accurate. With the sudden closure of everything around the country and people losing their daily jobs, hence losing their only income it was expected for deficits to increase dramatically. The government had to take steps against the virus and shut everyone and everything down while also providing some type of relief for those who have struggled greatly. Under Biden’s plan for COVID relief he wants to provide additional checks for lowincome families, $10,000 forgiveness for student loans, increase social security by $200 per month, provide emergency paid sick leave, and free testing and treatment for everyone. https://joebiden.com/the-biden-emergency-action-plan-to-save-the-economy/). He will also help out smaller businesses by making sure that the wealthier Americans are paying their own share and extend unemployment benefits as much as he could. He is also planning on providing relief for federal student loans and federally backed mortgages. Lastly, Biden hasn’t promised for the last round of stimulus checks but would send them if it was necessary. Biden’s COVID relief plan costs $3 trillion dollars (https://www.fastcompany.com/90560430/inside-nextdoors-wild2020-from-essential-service-to-a-reckoning-on-racism). Biden didn’t promise a lot of numbers which might imply that he will not be capable of doing all of this. His plan will lead to a big deficit and a huge government spending. Biden’s plan will result in the fastest growth because it is reliant on government deficit( https://www.bloombergquint.com). https://www.marketplace.org/2020/09/18/comparing-bidens-and-trumps-economic-policies/ Government Revenue Corporate taxes Currently, the federal tax is 21% which used to be 35%. According to the Balance, corporate taxes revenue will make around 7% or $284 billion. The government’s annual income doesn’t cover how much it spends which creates a $966 billion deficit. The estimated tax revenue for 2021 is $3.86 trillion. (https://www.thebalance.com/current-u-s-federal-government-taxrevenue-3305762.) I think this estimate is pretty accurate considering that cutting tax means less government revenue and potentially more deficit. With Trump’s tax cuts it is very hard for the government to see a big revenue and a small deficit. In general, Trump isn’t changing much in his corporate tax plans and wants to make his previous enforcements permanent. People who believe in tax cuts believe in the theory of supply-side economics which means that when businesses have more freedom with less government taxes and regulations, companies have the ability to hire more workers which leads to more demand and an increase in the economy (https://www.thebalance.com/cost-of-trump-tax-cuts-4586645). Biden wants to increase corporate income tax rate to 28% instead of 21%. According to Tax Foundation, the estimate revenue effect from 2020 to 2029, the 28% rate would raise to $1.253 trillion. He will also create a minimum tax on corporations with profits of $100 million and the tax is aimed at companies that report a net income of $100 million. The corporate income tax affects capital formation because these taxes increase the cost of capital which reduces productivity growth, employment levels, wages, and economics output. With the budget Biden has, there will be a decrease in GDP by 1.3%, the capital stock by 2.9%, wages by 1.0%, and employment by 236,000 jobs (https://taxfoundation.org/2020-corporate-tax-proposals/). According to Police, the top 1% of filers will be the ones with an 80% responsibility of the tax burden imposed by Biden (https://www.rollcall.com/2020/09/14/biden-budget-policies-federaldeficit-increase/). Payroll Taxes According to Tax Foundation, Trump issued forgiveness for employee-side payroll tax deferral and permeant cuts to the payroll tax.( https://taxfoundation.org/president-trump-taxplan-2020/). However, the taxes have been deferred and not forgiven which means that they may need to pay the taxes in January 2021 if no permanent cut is enacted (https://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/taxes/articles/the-payroll-tax-cut-hereswhat-it-means-for-you). Additionally, Trump will provide payroll tax holiday to Americans who earn less than $100,000 a year. This could lead to millions of workers experiencing smaller pay checks. When Trump signed the new negotiation about payroll, he promised it would increase paycheck. Although this might sound good for some people but other people who don’t earn pay checks, unemployed people, full-time parents, retirees, and Americans whose income is from government benefit will have a problem benefiting from that. According to an article by Policy, President Trump also promised to pay U.S.A debt in 8 years, instead federal debt increased $2.1trillion from 2016 to the end of the 2019 fiscal year (https://www.rollcall.com/2020/09/14/biden-budget-policies-federal-deficit-increase/). Biden wants to eliminate the income cap on Social Security Taxes. Currently, the Social Security program is funded by a 12.4% payroll tax in which half is paid by the employees and half paid by the employers with the maximum taxable rate increases as wage rate increases over time. Under Biden’s campaign, he plans on increasing government revenue by implementing the 12.4% payroll tax for wages above $400,000. Biden creates a “donut hole” in Social security payroll taxes. On the other hand, this donut hole will close over time as the maximum taxable and the wage rate increase and the $400,000 wage remains unchanged. This campaign for Social Security payroll tax from high wage-earners would raise revenue from $800 billion to $1 trillion in a decade, as well as closing the 60% of Social Security’s solvency gap./ (https://www.crfb.org/papers/understanding-joe-bidens-2020-tax-plan). Although it might seem that this campaign has minimum government deficits with increase in government revenue, the government deficits will in fact increase by $2 trillion according to an analysis by Policy. By increasing tax mostly on the wealthy and proposing to spend about $5.4, federal debt will also increase by 0.1% by 2030. Increasing tax on the wealthy is a plan. Wealthier Americans own most of the money in the country yet still pay the same amount of tax for those who are barely making a living. By decreasing the amount of money for the less wealthy, these people are able to have a more comfortable living.
