Joe Biden on Jobs: Mission Accomplished

From the WallStreetJournal.com:

Vice President Joe Biden is spending much of his time these days stumping for Democrats occupying vulnerable House seats. In the last month, he has campaigned in 10 districts held by freshman Democrats, and raised more than $1 million for them. Political strategists have started referring to him as the House Democrats' "sugar daddy."

But Mr. Biden's gaffes of late may make him more of a liability than an asset for House members whose seats he's supposed to be saving. Last week he pronounced that the stimulus plan was working beyond "my wildest dreams." Three days after the Labor Department announced another 260,000 lost jobs in September, he boasted in Connecticut that the stimulus has "saved or created one million jobs." In reality -- one that too many voters have experienced first-hand -- the economy has lost 2,884,000 jobs since the stimulus passed.

Mr. Biden may be upbeat, but political operatives in the White House are getting slightly panicked about the economy. In the past, lousy job numbers were written off by Robert Gibbs and the White House spin machine because "we are losing jobs at a slower pace." In September, we lost jobs at a faster pace. Larry Kudlow of CNBC notes that the Department of Labor's Household Survey (as opposed to the survey of businesses) indicates a 785,000 job loss in September -- a "really bad number that indicates small businesses just aren't hiring."

If job losses persist, Democrats seem to have no idea how to respond beyond more deficit-financed government spending. "Plan B," says Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina, "is more of Plan A," i.e., another debt bomb stimulus. Given how out of sync Mr. Biden's euphoria is, one wonders how much longer vulnerable Democrats will be inviting Mr. Obama's chief cheerleader into their districts.

Vice President Biden Announces “We Misread How Bad the Economy Was”

In an interview that has gotten a lot of people talking, last night on ABC’s “This Week” Vice President Joe Biden admitted that the Obama administration "misread how bad the economy was.” He did go on to say that he stood by their stimulus package and that it would create more jobs as the spending pace picks up. However, with unemployment rates continuing to rise, many people are justly concerned over this admission. Check out the video of the interview below.

According to the Associated Press Biden went on to say “that the $787 billion economic stimulus package was set up to spend the money over 18 months. Major programs will take effect in September, including $7.5 billion for broadband Internet service, plus new money for high-speed rail and the nation's electrical grid.”

Biden’s Tax Gaffe

Last week Democratic Vice Presidential Nominee Joe Biden misspoke during a television interview and broke from the Obama’s campaign in saying that no one making under $250,000 would pay more in taxes under an Obama administration. The campaign quickly tried to clarify by saying, “anyone making between $150,000 and $250,000 wouldn't get a tax cut but also wouldn't pay higher taxes.” But the interview left many people wondering “will families making less than $250,000 get a tax cut under President Obama, or not?”

Well according to WSJ.com’s opinion section, “we suspect what's going on here is more than Mr. Biden's normal gift of gaffe. As with his admission that a President Obama would quickly be tested by our enemies, the Delaware rambler was stumbling into the truth. An Obama Administration couldn't possibly pay for a tax cut for 95% of Americans by raising taxes on a mere 5%. Those 5% don't make enough money, or at least they won't after they find ways to shelter more of their income when their tax rates rise.

Just as Bill Clinton promised a ‘middle-class tax cut’ in 1992 only to raise taxes on the middle class in 1993, Mr. Obama will quickly find that his tax-revenue math doesn't add up. Add in the demands on Capitol Hill to spend more and to offset the Alternative Minimum Tax, and our bet is that even $150,000 would soon prove to be a moving tax target. Remember when the AMT was only supposed to hit 21 millionaires? Next year, without relief, it could hit 26 million taxpayers. Tax increases always hit the middle class because that's where the money is.”

Biden defends Obama tax-cut plan in Wash

From the Associated Press:

Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden said Sunday that a Barack Obama administration would help the middle class by cutting its taxes, answering Republican claims that Obama's plan represented redistribution of wealth.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Saturday likened Obama to the socialist leaders of Europe, saying the Democrat wanted to "convert the IRS into a giant welfare agency, redistributing massive amounts of wealth at the direction of politicians in Washington."

In response, Biden on Sunday repeatedly linked McCain to President Bush's tax policies, saying that the wealthy and big corporations have received millions of dollars in tax cuts that could have gone to the middle class and small businesses.

"It's not just because it's fair, it's what makes the economy go. The rich do fine when the middle class is going," Biden told an audience at a rally with Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire and other state Democrats vying for office. Thousands of supporters filled Cheney Stadium in this heavily blue-collar region about 40 miles south of Seattle.

"John McCain has been a party to the most significant redistribution of wealth in American history and it has been all the wrong way," he said. "There's not one fundamental economic issue that John McCain disagrees with George Bush on."

Obama-Biden Campaign Unveils Tax Calculator

From Washington Wire:

Playing offense on a favorite Republican attack issue, Barack Obama is offering voters a sneak peek at their share of his proposed tax cuts. Just punch in your income, marital status and a couple of key details, and the “Obama-Biden Tax Calculator” spits out the estimated tax cut that the Democratic ticket is promising you.

Single and making $60,000? The calculator has a $500 check with your name on it. Filing jointly with two kids and $100,000 of family income? $1,000 is on the way, according to the calculator.

The new Web gadget is meant to highlight Obama’s proposed middle class tax cut, which would reduce taxes for 95% of working families, according to the campaign. But punch in an income above $250,000 and the tool says, “You will probably not get a tax cuts under the Obama-Biden plan” –and zero mention of the tax increase planned for the wealthiest taxpayers.

The McCain campaign calls the gadget deceptive for leaving out mention of tax hikes and excluding small business taxes from its calculations. “Barack Obama supports raising taxes during an economic crisis – so the fact that his ‘tax calculator’ is a sham shouldn’t surprise anyone,” said McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds. The conservative group Americans for Tax Reform has also criticized the calculator for leaving out small business tax rates and over-promising on credits for college tuition and retirement savings.

But Wall Street Journal/NBC polling suggests that Republicans have been unable to tag Obama with the toxic tax-and-spend label that has damaged Democrats in the past, despite McCain’s attacks on that front.

The latest survey, conducted in early October, showed voters equally view Obama and McCain, both at 40%, as the best candidate on taxes.

The Candidate’s Tax Returns Compared

Thanks to the TaxProf Blog, below is a chart comparing the tax returns of the four major presidential and vice presidential candidates (Sen. Barack Obama, Sen. John McCain, Sen. Joe Biden, and Gov. Sarah Palin). As you can see, Mr. Biden donated the lowest percent of his income to charity, but made more in the past two years than Mrs. Palin.

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Tax Misrepresentations in Vice Presidential Debates

As many of you know, last night was the first and only Vice Presidential debate between Sen. Joe Biden and Gov. Sarah Palin. The debate covered a wide range of topics, but not surprisingly taxes and the economy engulfed a large part of the discussion. As usual, there were quite a few misrepresentations of the facts from both sides.

Fortunately the experts at The Tax Foundation have reviewed the debate transcripts and outlined all the inaccuracies in both candidates’ arguments. Below are snippets from both Biden’s and Palin’s gaffes, but you can read the full review by clicking here.

Sen. Biden's Errors

First, Joe Biden responds to a charge by Gov. Palin, who said that Sen. Obama voted to raise taxes on people making as little as $42,000. We've been over this numerous times, and while Gov. Palin's claim is misleading (see below), Sen. Biden's response contained an error as well:

The charge is absolutely not true. Barack Obama did not vote to raise taxes. The vote she's referring to, John McCain voted the exact same way. It was a budget procedural vote. John McCain voted the same way. It did not raise taxes.

While Sen. Biden is correct to say that the vote did not raise taxes, actually, Sen. McCain did not vote on this non-binding resolution. It passed 51-44, but Sen. McCain was one of five members of the Senate who did not vote in that roll call vote. Therefore, Sen. Biden's claim that he "voted the same way" is incorrect.

A little later in the debate, Joe Biden made this statement:

The middle class under John McCain's tax proposal, 100 million families, middle class families, households to be precise, they got not a single change, they got not a single break in taxes. No one making less than $250,000 under Barack Obama's plan will see one single penny of their tax raised whether it's their capital gains tax, their income tax, investment tax, any tax. And 95 percent of the people in the United States of America making less than $150,000 will get a tax break.

Actually the "100 million" figure is not families. It is not households. It is tax returns. But that's a somewhat minor issue in the whole scheme of things. The figure is incorrect because Sen. McCain, even relative to a current policy with Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) patch baseline, does cut corporate income taxes and provides his refundable health care tax credit, which would reduce that "100 million won't get a tax break" figure. That figure is technically correct if you look only at the individual income tax and ignore Sen. McCain's health care tax plan, and if you do it relative to a current policy baseline with AMT patch. Furthermore, Sen. Biden makes the same error as Barack Obama in mixing baselines. The "95 percent" figure (when properly used) gives Obama credit for an AMT patch whereas he does not give McCain credit for an AMT patch tax cut when referring to the 100 million figure.

But the "95 percent" figure is just plain wrong as well. According to the Tax Policy Center, no income quintile (including those earning under $150,000) would even see 95 percent of its tax units receiving a tax break under Pres. Obama's tax plan in 2009. Even in 2012 under Obama's tax plan relative to current law, an average of the fraction of tax units that receive a tax cut in the bottom four quintiles is less than 90 percent. In other words, Biden's statement is factually incorrect. The "95 percent" figure is fairly accurate when Obama uses it to talk about the fraction of working families that would receive a tax cut under his plan, but not the entire population nor the entire population earning under $150,000.

Gov. Palin's Errors

Gov. Palin started off early in the debate trying to label Sens. Obama and Biden as tax hikers. She said:

Now, Barack Obama and Sen. Biden also voted for the largest tax increases in U.S. history. Barack had 94 opportunities to side on the people's side and reduce taxes and 94 times he voted to increase taxes or not support a tax reduction, 94 times.

This is not true. Even if one considers the expiration of the so-called Bush tax cuts to be a tax increase (it is technically not a tax increase), it would not be the biggest tax increase in history under almost any measure that adjusts for the size of the economy. And Sen. Obama's presidential tax plan does "raise taxes" relative to a current policy baseline over ten years, but it's not even close to being the largest tax increase in U.S. history. Relative to a current law baseline, Sen. Obama is actually cutting taxes rather significantly in the aggregate (nearly $3 trillion).

Sticking with the "Obama will raise your taxes" theme, Palin also repeated the "$42,000" line that Sen. McCain has repeated over and over and over:

But we do need tax relief and Barack Obama even supported increasing taxes as late as last year for those families making only $42,000 a year. That's a lot of middle income average American families to increase taxes on them. I think that is the way to kill jobs and to continue to harm our economy.

As I wrote when Sen. McCain said this in the first debate: That was a non-binding Senate vote earlier this year, and it's different from what Obama is proposing as a candidate. Very few households making $42,000 per year would pay more in taxes under Obama's tax plan. Some may say that Obama is voting one way and proposing something else on the campaign trail. If that's fair, then McCain's drastic change of heart on the Bush tax cuts is fair game as well. McCain voted against the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, but now supports extending almost all of them with the exception of the full repeal of the estate tax.

Gov. Palin's most egregious error of the night was actually repeated twice in 20 seconds. It was on the issue of Sen. McCain's health care plan, which neither side appears to understand.

I am because he's got a good health care plan that is detailed. And I want to give you a couple details on that. He's proposing a $5,000 tax credit for families so that they can get out there and they can purchase their own health care coverage. That's a smart thing to do. That's budget neutral. That doesn't cost the government anything as opposed to Barack Obama's plan to mandate health care coverage and have universal government run program and unless you're pleased with the way the federal government has been running anything lately, I don't think that it's going to be real pleasing for Americans to consider health care being taken over by the feds. But a $5,000 health care credit through our income tax that's budget neutral. That's going to help. And he also wants to erase those artificial lines between states so that through competition, we can cross state lines and if there's a better plan offered somewhere else, we would be able to purchase that. So affordability and accessibility will be the keys there with that $5,000 tax credit also being offered.

Sen. McCain's health care tax plan is not budget neutral. It is a $1.3 trillion tax cut over the next ten years, which is therefore the amount that would be added to the national debt under this proposal. It does cost the government something over the next ten years, and it's almost as expensive as Sen. Obama's health care tax plan, according to Tax Policy Center preliminary estimates ($1.6 trillion). To be budget neutral, Sen. McCain would essentially have to eliminate the exclusion from payroll taxes for employer-provided health insurance as well as the income tax exclusion. He does not do that. Notice that Gov. Palin, like Sen. McCain did in the first debate, doesn't give you the whole story on this plan, avoiding the inconvenient fact that he would tax employer-provided health insurance.

Obama to Drop Biden?

Over the past week there have been rumors circulating that Sen. Barack Obama might seek to drop Sen. Joe Biden as running mate and replace him with Sen. Hillary Clinton. Many agree that these are in fact just rumors, and there is little evidence to support that this is a move Obama is actually considering. However, there have been a few events in the past few weeks that have led people to question whether Biden even supports Obama’s agenda.

According to FOXnews.com, “Barack Obama and Joe Biden stepped out of sync again Tuesday, as the Democratic presidential nominee criticized his running mate for voicing opposition to the government bailout of American International Group early last week.

It was the third off-message moment for the Democratic team in two days. Biden had to ratchet back his own rhetoric Monday after an interview aired in which he called one of his own campaign ads “terrible” and said that he did not support clean coal technology – even though Obama is a big proponent.

The lack of harmony suggests the Obama team, for months a rancor-free institution, is running into the kind of message discipline problems that John McCain’s campaign faced before he started to cut back his interaction with reporters.”

Also adding fuel to the fire, Biden was as quoted as saying, "make no mistake about this, Hillary Clinton is as qualified or more qualified than I am to be vice president of the United States of America. Let's get that straight. She's a truly close personal friend, she is qualified to be president of the United States of America, she's easily qualified to be vice president of the United States of America and quite frankly it might have been a better pick than me. But she's first rate.”

However, when Bill Clinton appeared on “The View” he claimed that Hillary did not want to be Vice President. When NBC'S Today Show's Matt Lauer asked her about what Bill said, Hillary replied, “you know, Matt, there's no point in going back and, you know, talking about something that didn't happen. I want to keep focused on the future and to talk to those people who are worried about their jobs, their home, affording gas and groceries, you know, thinking that the government has just turned its back on them, making them feel almost invisible.”

So does Obama feel his choice was a mistake? And more importantly, will Joe Biden drop out of the race? With the election only six weeks away it does seem rather unlikely, but only time will tell.

Biden Links Tax on Wealthy to Patriotism

From Boston.com:

Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden acknowledged yesterday the wealthy would pay more taxes if he and Sen. Barack Obama are in the White House, but he put an interesting spin on it.

"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," Biden said on ABC's "Good Morning America."

Republican Sen. John McCain pounced on the remark. "Raising taxes in a tough economy isn't patriotic," he said in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. "It's not a badge of honor. It's just dumb policy."

Trying to find the right tone on the Wall Street crisis, McCain also went for the tried and true in a new TV ad yesterday: Warn voters that his Democratic opponent is a tax-and-spend liberal. The ad warns of huge spending increases, pork-barrel projects, and "painful taxes." "Can your family afford that?" the announcer concludes.

Obama's proposals, however, would lower the tax bill for the vast majority of taxpayers, and by letting President Bush's tax cuts lapse would raise income taxes on those earning $250,000 or more a year.

Biden and Palin – Comparing and Contrasting their Tax Views

Over the past week there has been a lot of media attention on the United States economy. With huge government buyouts, and record-breaking drops in the stock market, Americans are looking to the Presidential candidates for more information on their tax and economic plans.

In the past week weeks I have given an in depth look at both Vice Presidential candidate’s (see the entries on Sen. Joe Biden and Gov. Sarah Palin), and with the recent developments in our economy I thought it prudent to also compare the differences in their respective tax views on a few key issues.

Balanced Budget:

Joe Biden:

Senator Biden feels strongly that a balanced budget should be high up on the next president’s priority list. On top of consistently voting for what he believes were fair and balanced budget amendments since 1997, Biden has also voted against bills he felt would lead to an unbalanced budget. In 1990, Biden voted against George H. W. Bush’s budget bill, which aimed to raise taxes drastically over a five-year period. In 2000, Biden also voted against making tax cuts a priority over national debt reduction.

Biden’s own budget plan for the next few years includes cutting funding for the war (by which he hopes to generate over $100 billion in federal revenue), and eliminating tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. He also plans on eliminating tax cuts for investment on dividends – which he claims could generate $195 billion in revenue over time.

Sarah Palin:

From the moment Palin took office as the Governor of Alaska, she began looking for ways to cut spending in all areas of the government. By cutting local project programs, selling a corporate jet, firing unnecessary government staff, and directing state agencies to reduce excess spending, she was able to reduce the states spending by $124 million. However, a $7 billion education and savings plan, new ice rink, and other local investments eventually led her state into debt. While the governor made many positive changes to Alaska and provided youth and cultural opportunity, debate rages at to whether her cuts were effective or not.

The difference:

Both candidates obviously agree that balancing the budget is an important task, though possibly on different levels. While Biden has experience working as a Senator to fix the national budget, Palin’s experience is limited to the state level. Without further statements from Palin herself, it’s hard to tell exactly what her plans for the budget are on the national level.

Gasoline Prices, Taxes, and Solutions:

Biden:

Knowing our dependence on oil and need for change, Biden has outlined multiple ways to help fix our countries current energy crisis. While other candidates have supported a gas tax holiday, Biden opposes the concept claiming that is merely a temporary solution. By pushing to reduce our dependence on oil entirely, Biden hopes to ease the demand for fossil fuels and also fight global warming. In 2005 he voted yes to bills that aim to significantly reduce oil by 2025, and for tax incentives to encourage energy production and conservation. He also voted against multiple bills promoting oil leasing programs in Alaska’s ANWR.

Palin:

A strong supporter of a gas tax holiday, Palin feels there is plenty of oil available for drilling in this country. Alaska has some of the highest gas prices in the country, and to help out citizens of her state Palin signed a gas tax holiday into law, and also pushed to get one time energy rebates sent out to Alaska taxpayers. Another one of Palin’s energy programs was known as Alaska’s “energy efficient month,” where the government provided incentives for reduced energy consumption. Although Palin has achieved some success in helping Alaska’s energy problems many wonder whether or not she will be able to do the same on the national level as the programs were made possible by windfall taxes from oil companies drilling in Alaska.

The Difference:

The only real similarity between the candidates is the fact that they both realize we are in an energy crisis. While Biden plans to make our nation less dependent on petroleum, Palin is very vocal about her support for increased offshore drilling. Palin does claim she supports green energy projects, but views them of secondary importance.

Earmarks:

Biden:

It is no secret that senator Biden has quite an earmark record. His FY09 requests total about $330 million, and it has caused a lot of bad publicity for Biden. Although it is not uncommon for members of Congress to take advantage of earmark spending, it is not helpful for a campaign running on the idea of change in a time of economic uncertainty.

Palin:

Although she’s taken stride to criticize both Obama and Biden on their earmark spending, Palin does have a record of wasteful spending. The infamous “bridge to nowhere” project, which she first embraced and then, later, dropped, was estimated at about $398 million. Obama criticized Palin for the first time ever on September 6^th, and on her earmark policies in particular:

"I know the governor of Alaska has been saying she's change, and that's great," Obama said. "She's a skillful politician. But, you know, when you've been taking all these earmarks when it's convenient, and then suddenly you're the champion anti-earmark person, that's not change. Come on! I mean, words mean something, you can't just make stuff up."

The Difference:

While no one tries to say straight out they “favor” earmarks, Biden is, if at all, more open and honest about it. It was a considered risky move on Palin’s part to be so critical on earmarks when she had does have some history of them herself.

Details on Biden’s Tax Returns

Although his Republican counterpart Gov. Sarah Palin has yet to release her tax returns, Democratic Vice Presidential Nominee Sen. Joe Biden has published his returns dating back ten years. You can download the PDF version of his returns at Obama’s campaign website.

The returns appear to be pretty straightforward, the Bidens had an annual income of around $200,000 - $300,000, which is about average for a member of the Senate. However, the percent of their income that was deducted for charitable contributions was very low considering the Biden’s income level.

“I wonder, though, if the move might backfire because the returns show that the Bidens have been amazingly tight-fisted when it comes to their charitable giving,” claims Paul L. Caron of the Tax Prof blog. “Despite income ranging from $210,432 - $321,379 over the ten-year period, the Bidens have given only $120 - $995 per year to charity, which amounts to 0.06% - 0.31% of their income.”

“It is jarring that a couple earning over $200,000 per year would give as little as $2 per week to charity. This giving compares very unfavorably to John McCain, whose tax returns show that he gave 27.3% - 28.6% of his income to charity in 2006-2007. During the same period, the Obamas' tax returns show that they gave 5.8% - 6.1% of their income to charity.”

Sen. Joe Biden: a Deeper Look at his Tax Views

With Election Day only a few months away, both Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain have announced their running mates. Although everyone in the media is talking about Sen. Joe Biden and Gov. Sarah Palin, no one is really talking about their tax or economic views. With a looming recession, and gas prices expected to spike because of Hurricane Gustav, I decided to take a deeper look into Senator Joe Biden’s tax views.

Ending the War

One of Biden’s most progressive tax views is his adamancy about ending the war. Biden feels the sooner we end the war, the sooner we can start saving money again and reducing our national debt. Currently, the war on Iraq is costing around $100 billion a year, and Biden wants use that money to invest in our own country.

Bush Tax Cuts

The Bush tax cuts have been a large subject of debate this election season. Biden opposes the tax cuts and has voted against them recently and voted against similar tax cuts in the past when Bush Sr. was president. Although the argument has been made that the “trickle down” effect will make sure the tax cuts benefit us all, Biden claims that this tactic has not worked. “Imagine what we could do if we had a president who had the nerve and the wisdom to understand that rich folks are just as patriotic as poor folks--you just have to ask them,” claimed Biden. “I spoke to a group of millionaires about taking away their tax cut, and when I explained how I'd use it, they gave me a standing ovation.”

Health Care

Joe Biden is known for his fight for an ethical and easy health care system for America. Working closely with Social Security as well as Medicare, he has been a big part of numerous changes that have already been made to health care in this country. If elected as Vice President, Biden has claimed that he would like to work alongside Obama to strengthen prescription drug programs and make them affordable and available to everyone.

Biden recognizes that Medicare has many flaws and that it requires improvement. He would like to open programs to promote wellness and disease prevention, waive co-payments, and advance technology within the medical industry. He hopes to fund these new programs by repealing the Bush tax cuts for the top 1% and withdrawing troops from Iraq. However, there are noticeable flaws in Biden's health plans such as his neglect to recognize youth needs. Most of his plans emphasize senior health, which is important but should not be the only part of his plan.

Gas Prices

Taking on the OPEC monopoly is one of the riskier moves Biden wants to make. Some critics think this will not help but hurt the problem, as OPEC is not the only cause of high gas prices. Biden’s other energy plans are to invest in new alternative energies will be pricey at first, but have the potential to save billions in the long-run.

Education and Taxes

Biden has worked on numerous bills designer to make education more affordable, and introduced the college ACCESS legislation that provides a refundable tax credit for struggling students to help pay for tuition. The legislation also expanded grants for low-income families. To pay for the legislation Biden voted yes on shifting $11 billion from corporate tax loopholes to education.

Death Tax Exemption

While in the Senate Biden voted against raising the Death Tax Exemption from $1 million to $5 million. He felt the tax did not apply to most Americans, and only gave more money to wealthy heirs and heiresses such as the notorious Paris Hilton.

AMT Repeal

Senator Biden also voted against repealing the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). As we all know, the tax was originally meant to only target only the very wealthy, but is now being levied on thousands of middle class America due to inflation. However, Biden noticed that repealing it entirely would surely put us into deficit, decrease government revenue, and unbalance the budget even more. However, Biden has claimed that he would favor adjusting the ATM for inflation and the standard of living for 2008.

Balanced Budget

Sen. Biden is adamant about his fight for a balanced budget. He voted for the balanced budget amendment in 1997, and voted against making tax cuts a priority over national debt reduction in 2000. He also stated that interest rates should be lowered across the board, and that tax breaks on investment dividends should be repealed.

Hedge Funds

Biden has never been discrete about his dislike of hedge funds, and believes they are a main cause of the credit crunch in the United States. He also disliked equity funds and cites them as another cause of the country’s current financial crisis.

Foreign Aid

When the Georgia-Russia dispute first broke out, Biden immediately called for $1 billion in emergency aid. After meeting personally with Georgia’s president, he was adamant and convinced of his decision. In February of 2008, Biden also pushed for a massive increase of non-military financial aid to Pakistan.

Biden Has A Pro-Tax Career

For those of you who do not know, at the end of last week Presumptive Democratic Nominee Sen. Barack Obama announced that Sen. Joe Biden will be his Vice-Presidential running mate. Biden is the current chairman of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee and actively worked on military resolutions concerning the former Yugoslavia, Georgia, and Iraq.

Many assume that Biden’s history of dealing with foreign relations and military resolutions will help ease concerns over Obama’s “lack of experience.” However, in addition to his foreign relations background Biden also has an interesting history on tax related issues. CNSNews.com has posted this interesting article on Sen. Joe Biden’s tax history, below is a snippet from the article.

“Like most Senate Democrats in 1981, Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware found President Reagan’s tax cut proposal to be an irresistible force and voted for it, after having twice voted for efforts to limit its scope.

Since then, with a few exceptions, Biden usually has supported higher taxes, although he has voted against specific tax increases when they have been advanced by Republican presidents.

In 1981, when President Reagan was pushing for across-the-board-tax cuts, Biden twice voted for bills that would have curtailed the effect of Reagan’s proposal.

First, on July 16, 1981, he voted against a measure that called for indexing the income-tax rates to inflation beginning in 1985. In a July 17, 1981 story, The Washington Post reported that the purpose of the bill was “to offset the tax increases that otherwise occur inexorably each year as incomes rise with inflation, lifting people into higher tax brackets.”

Then, on July 23, 1981, Biden supported an amendment sponsored by Sen. Bill Bradley (D-N.J.) that would have rolled back the tax cuts for anyone making over $50,000 per year. On July 17, 1981, the New York Times explained that the purpose of this amendment was “to limit personal income-tax relief to one round of rate cuts and to tilt the relief toward those who earn less than $50,000 a year.”

Nonetheless, when the full Reagan tax cuts came up for a final vote, Biden voted in favor of them, as did 88 of his Senate colleagues. Only 11 Senators voted against the Reagan bill, including 10 Democrats and 1 Republican.

The next year, Biden cast an ironic vote against a $98.3 billion tax increase supported by President Reagan and pushed through the Senate by Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.). The bill passed the Senate 52-47, with 35 other Democrats joining Biden in voting against it.”

The Biden Economy: What Obama’s VP Pick Means for Wall Street

From Heidi N. Moore of the Wall Street Journal:

Sen. Barack Obama picked Delaware Senator Joe Biden as his running mate in a 3 AM pick Saturday that gave a new meaning to the “Friday night news dump.”

Biden’s foreign-policy experience made him Obama’s choice, according to the news reports. But what are Biden’s views on the economy, taxes, deal making and Wall Street? Deal Journal took a look.

Not a fan of hedge funds:

In a Democratic primary debate on This Week last year, Biden blamed hedge funds and private-equity funds for the credit crunch: “We need more transparency, particularly with regard to hedge funds and private equity funds. They are the ones that are causing this thing to go under. And there’s no transparency, no accountability. We don’t know how deep this problem is.”

A stable capital-gains tax:

Biden voted no to cutting the capital-gains tax rate in 2005 and 2006. Obama favors imposing an income-tax regime on investment profits from private-equity firms and hedge funds that are currently taxed as capital gains. In 2003, the capital-gains tax rate was cut to 15%. Biden believes raising taxes on dividends will raise $195 billion a year.

Caution, but not rejection, of sovereign-wealth funds:

Biden led Senate hearings in June on sovereign-wealth funds and urged caution when accepting investments from the investment arms of foreign countries, particularly very large funds such as Saudi Arabia’s planned $900 billion fund and the $200 billion China Investment Corp. Still, he credited SWFs with helping several U.S. banks, including Citigroup, which received a $7.6 billion investment from the Abu Dhabi investment authority: “From the financial perspective, however, these funds could be an important source of capital in our global economy. Wealth Funds can bring benefits to our economy. They have helped keep our banks afloat in the midst of the sub-prime mortgage crisis and ensuing credit crunch. They could offer a fresh infusion of capital, fuel employment and stimulate the U.S. industry.” Biden said greater transparency wouldn’t make sovereign-wealth funds appear less-threatening to U.S. national security interests, but that “punitive defensive regulation could be self-defeating, depriving us of potential benefits out of the fear of potential harm.”

No tax breaks for anyone earning more than $1 million:

Sorry, Wall Street. Those deal makers who are still employed will surely pay higher taxes in an Obama-Biden administration. Biden has said he supports the elimination of tax cuts for anyone earning more than $1 million a year; he expects that to raise $85 billion a year for the government.

Toeing Obama’s line on NAFTA:

In a debate broadcast on National Public Radio in December, Biden said, “the thing I’m most unsure about, is how you rationalize competition and trade policy. I think that’s the single most difficult challenge that I will have as president.” More recently, Biden has supported Obama’s view that the North American Free Trade Agreement – which governs $810 billion in trade – should be renegotiated along more favorable lines for the U.S.

He was saw early on that the credit crunch would get ugly: in that same Democratic primary debate in August 2007, Biden said the then-nascent credit crunch was “almost as deep in terms of dollars, not liability, as the savings-and-loan crisis.”