President Joe Biden recently gave a speech on a key aspect of his reelection campaign:  raising taxes on America’s wealthiest individuals.  Biden has colloquially labeled this the “billionaire tax,” claiming that the most successful Americans should contribute more in taxes.

During a recent speech, he spoke about how billionaires allegedly pay just a little over 8 percent in taxes without providing more detail.  “Anybody want to trade..the billionaire tax? I’d take 8.2 percent it’s far less than the vast majority of Americans pay,” he said.

He further asserted that billionaires should not be paying a lower tax rate than average Americans, while raising his voice for emphasis, a trademark feature in some of Biden’s speeches.  “No billionaires should pay a lower tax than a teacher, a sanitation worker, a nurse. Anybody busting their neck,” he said.  RNC Research pointed out Biden’s change in tone, writing, “Biden is randomly yelling again.”

Biden further discussed his plan for the “billionaire tax,” illustrating how it would purportedly raise nearly half a trillion dollars in the coming decade.  “That’s why I’m proposing if I’m reelected we’re gonna get it done to a minimum tax and 25% for billionaires. That’s not even the highest tax rate is 25% You know, how much that would raise over 10 years. $500 billion in 10 years. 500 billion,” Biden continued.

Biden also drew on this sentiment during his State of the Union Address, where he made the same claim that “the average federal tax rate” for billionaires is only 8.2%.  However, according to a fact check from verifythis.com, this statement isn’t even true.  Per their research, the 400 wealthiest Americans pay roughly 23% in federal income taxes based on the most recent IRS data from 2014.  For comparison, the average tax rate for taxpayers in 2020 was approximately 13.6%.

However, verifythis.com points out that the White House likely uses a calculation to arrive at this 8.2% figure by including unrealized gains to measure taxable income.  Unrealized gains are an accumulation of wealth outside of taxable income, such as an increase in the value of an unsold stock portfolio.

According to reports from CNBC, the supposed “billionaire tax” in Biden’s 2025 budget proposal would actually apply a 25% tax on Americans with a wealth of more than $100 million, which is considerably less than someone who would be considered a billionaire.

Watch a clip from Biden’s rant on raising taxes below:

Users on social media were quick to criticize Biden over this speech.  One individual questioned whether Biden understood the current tax code and how the math behind calculating federal income taxes works.  “What is he talking about? The Billionaire has tax accountants and businesses, farms, ranches…. They jjust use the tax code and their income is whatever they want it to be $100k, 200k). They are not paying tax on $2 Billion of yearly income. Do the math,” they said.

“Joe, you have to speak for eight more months. Can you do it?” one person said, calling out Biden’s seeming struggles with public speaking engagements.  “Its what happens when the dementia meds start wearing off,” another person wrote, highlighting commonly held skepticism about Biden’s cognitive fitness.

Note:  The featured image is a screenshot from the embedded video.