Fact-Checking Three of Biden's State of the Union Comments
Two were false, one was a puzzling statement
Joe Biden gave his State of the Union speech last week. He made a number of statements that were, well, interesting. I’ve examined three of the statements here for validity. For all three, I also have YouTube short videos that you can access if you prefer.
Biden claims billionaires only pay 8% in income taxes. This is false, as this Washington Post report outlines. The true number is closer to 23%. Watch the video here.
Biden claims GDP increased during his administration. This is true, but an odd thing to brag about. GDP has increased for every presidential administration in the last 75 years. This is from FRED - the St. Louis Fed’s website. Here is the short video I made on this claim.
3. Biden claimed that millionaires pay less into Social Security than working people. This is false. Everyone pays 6.2% into Social Security up to an income cap of about $170,000. So those who earn more, pay more. The cap is in place as the benefits are also capped. The rich can pay a smaller percentage of their income into social security, and I’m guessing if pressed that’s what Biden would claim he meant. But that isn’t what he said. Here is the short video on this topic.
Overall, it was a disappointing but unsurprising performance from President Biden. We’re in for a long campaign, and I’ll be posting occasional fact-checks (and corrections) of both Biden and Trump statements in the coming months. Subscribe to receive these updates!