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Even though the votes are still being counted and the US presidential election results aren’t final, some Americans are already celebrating what seems to be former Vice-President Joe Biden’s victory. Now, they’re taking a closer look at the politician’s policies. And one of them is increasing taxes. Naturally, when people hear about tax increases, they tend to panic (and blame 2020). But in this case, Biden pledged not to raise taxes on anyone earning less than 400k dollars per year. In other words, around 90 percent of taxpayers would be safe from the tax hike.

Twitter users had a lot of fun showing that the vast majority of Americans had nothing to worry about by posting examples from their lives and how you can tell that Biden’s tax hike won’t affect you. Scroll down to check out the funniest ones and remember to upvote your fave tweets. Let us know in the comment section which of these tweets you relate to the most.

David Alexander Bateman, the Director of Undergraduate Studies at the Department of Government at Cornell University, told Bored Panda that almost all presidents try to make changes to the US tax system. "After all, Trump supported the far-right tax plans of Paul Ryan, which amounted to one of the largest upward redistributions in American history. Obama tried and succeeded in very slightly raising taxes. Bush presided over several tax cuts, and Clinton and G. H. W. Bush both presided over modest increases in taxes." Read on for Bateman's full insights and the fact that it's almost guaranteed that Biden is the winner of the elections.

Joe Biden plans to increase taxes for the wealthy and for corporations. However, some Americans were still worried

Image credits: Joe Biden

Image credits: DKEvanoff

"Every single president in my lifetime has tried to revise tax rates and at least suggested broader reforms to the tax system. Right now, wealthy Americans are ludicrously under-taxed, paying effective rates well below their 20th-century historical norms and well-below what is necessary to sustain the public services upon which wealth creation and productivity rely upon," Bateman from Cornell University said.

He added that Biden's plans might actually be criticized as not sufficiently aggressive and not aiming to raise top tax rates enough, limiting the raise to the already "extremely wealthy," instead of the "broader affluent middle classes." Bateman highlighted that many economists estimate that the "optimal rate" for high earners would be around 70 percent which is still below the 90 percent top rate that existed during the mid-20th century. "There is a lot of pushback against this by conservative and industry-backed think tanks, but the logic is sound," Bateman said.

"Even Obama, after all, sought to raise taxes on those making over 250,000 dollars which at the time was seen by many as insufficient to finance the public services a productive country requires," Bateman told Bored Panda.

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We were also interested to get Bateman's take on when we'll be getting the final count for the US presidential elections. He pointed out that the final count will most likely be weeks. However, this doesn't mean we won't know the winner by then (and some news media outlets are already celebrating Biden's victory after more and more votes are counted in Pennsylvania).

"The norm in US national elections is that it takes a few weeks before all the votes are counted, largely because there are so many jurisdictions doing the counting, so many different ways in which ballots can be cast—including provisional ballots, which aren't even touched for days after the election—and because most jurisdictions are under-funded relative to the demands that are placed upon them," Bateman explained.

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"It seems now extremely likely that Biden has won. I expect some media outlets to call the election once Biden takes a clear lead in Pennsylvania," Bateman commented. "The reason it's taking longer this year than most is simply that there was so much voting by mail, with one party much more likely to vote by mail than the other, and because many jurisdictions—including the most pivotal ones—were prohibited by state law from processing these ballots early."

However, the results in some states can still take a while to process. "But even if the election is called later today, we won't know close states such as Georgia for a while, in part because in many states ballots are still arriving—military ballots can arrive in Georgia, for example, up to 9 days after the election."

#10

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LuckyL
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If you think about storing your leftovers you don't have to worry

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CNN explains that Biden plans to reverse some of the tax cuts that President Donald Trump signed into law in 2017 and will raise taxes on the wealthy and on corporations.

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However, because of how interconnected economic systems are, those earning less than 400k dollars per year could still see an average decrease in after-tax income of 0.9 percent. Compare that to around a 17.7 percent decrease of after-tax income for those earning more than 400k dollars.

So it's not technically true that the tax changes won't affect all Americans, but the changes vary greatly depending on how much you earn. But like with most things, we won't know how the entire system is affected until after the changes have already been made (if Biden's proposed changes will go through).

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Mary Peace
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If I haven't reached the dizzy heights of iphone 6 at all yet, I guess that counts, right?

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What Biden plans to do is raise the top federal tax rate from 37 percent to 39.6 percent, subject earnings over 400k dollars to the Social Security payroll tax (which is right now limited to 137.7k dollars of earnings), and raise the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent.

Overall, these and other changes to the tax system could raise the United States anywhere from 2.4 trillion dollars and 4 trillion dollars over 10 years. What’s then done with this money is a whole other issue altogether.

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Abhainn
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I mean I put my mattress under my bed frame to sleep on for a while, does that count?

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Leo Domitrix
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

WRONG! In my area, you get up there and take down the shoes and see if they fit, b/c hey, free shoes. No joke.

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Mary Peace
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Someone put my shampoo bottle in the bin, thinking it was empty. I was furious. Got it out of the bin and got 2 more washes from it. Also the empty bottle needed to be recycled, not put in general rubbish.

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Tabitha L
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have never done this. My friends and I just take turns. (also, just writing this because the top comment is not very nice.)

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Podunkus
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What about hanging coffee mugs from hooks off of your kitchen cabinet? Does that count too? F817EDA2-8...a-jpeg.jpg F817EDA2-8329-4BD9-B1DB-72131AA1A6D5-5fa5522b9bd5a-jpeg.jpg

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Becca Gizmo the Squirrel
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I love those ac's. They get super cold and they the noise at night I love too. Plus I have a box fan in almost every room. I hate hearing house noises like conversations my kids are having in the other room.

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Becca Gizmo the Squirrel
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I am obsessed with kitchen cups and plates from yard sales and thrift stores. Always have been. It's like I need this random mug from some lawyers office I've never heard of! For $.10!

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Loren
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

if you don't have an iPhone don't worry about Biden's tax plan

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Jeff Requier
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Wrong, Ive been in a mansion with a Lambo out front and the bathroom was like this. Wasnt an old mansion either

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Marcellus the Third
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It also can be habitual lying for any perceived short-term advantage, like Trumpy did. Come to think of it, he's such a poor business man his real income probably dips below $400K unless he redirects state money to his pocket (like have the FBI rent entire floors in Trump Towers, or make security pay for accessing his golf club, and giving posts to his family).

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Demian
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

One soap for bathing, laundry and dishes. We're in the clear boys! 😎

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LOttawa
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They are decorative rocks usually in a bowl or plate around a candle or in a vase to hold flowers or things like that. In this image they are being cleaned.

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Colleen Evans
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The rocks are a newer trend. People put them in the bottom of the sink to cover deterioration like rust, chips, etc. Its cheaper than replacing the sink.

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Jaybird3939
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think it's if the faucet drips you don't have to listen to it. It hits the rocks first, instead of the drain.

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SBW71
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

For those who think they really won't be affected by his tax hikes are gonna be in for a rude awakening and might want to re-take an economic class.

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James Cuschieri
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Nobody needs to worry about that actually....Nevada & Penn have no senate seats up for election this year. That pretty much means even in best case scenario there will be no senate majority for Biden. And I don't think any republican senate member would vote for tax increases

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