ICYMI: Toomey on Squawk Box: Biden's Budget Proposal is a Gesture to the Radical Left

Interview

In case you missed it, U.S. Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) joined CNBC's Squawk Box this morning to discuss President Biden's proposed budget for fiscal year 2023, including the White House's plan to restrict stock buybacks and implement new tax hikes.

On President Biden's budget proposal, including restricting stock buybacks:

"When I look at these proposals: the huge tax increase on income, on corporate income, the so-called billionaires' tax, the stock buyback [restriction] . . . this is not going to happen. This is a big gesture to the radical left--the wing of the Democrats that don't like capitalism . . .

"This is terrible policy, terrible ideas. A stock buyback is simply the economically rational, sensible, responsible thing to do when the management of a company decides they cannot productively employ marginal capital. They have an obligation to return it to the people who own the company. The beauty of the mechanism is you as an investor can decide whether you want to sell or not. That's exactly what should happen in a free society, in a free market economy. This vilification of stock buybacks is completely ridiculous."

On taxing unrealized gains:

"Our Democratic colleagues usually justify all of their various, creative ways of raising taxes as a way to make sure that the wealthy are paying their "fair share.' The top 1% of Americans earn about 20% of all of the income and pay about 40% of all the income taxes. Paying twice the rate of what their income is in terms of the percentage of total taxes is somehow not fair. . . It's worth asking the question to my Democratic colleagues "what is fair?'"

On tax policy shifting based on the party divide in Congress:

"I think anything that gets 50 Democrat Senate votes and [Vice President] Kamala Harris breaking a tie will pass the House would then get signed by President Biden. But, I think that gig is up at the end of this year. I think Republicans are going to take control of the House and the Senate. Then we aren't going to be having conversations about these crazy new ways to raise taxes on people who already pay a lot of taxes. That's why our Democratic colleagues feel a lot of pressure to do something quickly. They know the clocks running."

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