How do the Democrats plan to “pay for” their $3.5 trillion climate and entitlement deal? The obvious answer is that they don’t. Deficit spending was already over $3 trillion last year alone, and it’s another $2.3 trillion this year. The cumulative federal debt approaches $29 trillion. Democrats do, however, plan to erect a facade of responsibility by raising taxes. Of course, talk of raising taxes is never popular, so Democrats run their usual “tax the rich” class warfare tactic — complete with expensive galas and dresses — even as they’re looking to levee one of the biggest tax hikes on Americans since 1968.

A more realistic designation for the Democrats’ tax plan is “tax the successful.” Their plan would not only increase the top individual tax rate from its current 37% to 39.6%, but, even more deviously, it would also expand the top income bracket by lowering the income threshold from its current $523,000 per individual and $628,300 per married couple down to $400,000 per individual and $450,000 per couple.

In other words, the plan would artificially lift upper-middle-class income earners into the top-tier bracket — all while inflation is increasing. They also want to include a new 3.8% surtax on small business income while eliminating the 20% deduction on qualified business income. They would halve the amount of money targeted by the death tax to $5.5 million.

This may sound like more money than most people make, but all of these taxes actually hit the little guy hardest. Small businesses often pay taxes at the highest individual rate. They also employ the most Americans. Yet they’re going to be squeezed by higher taxes on one end and inflationary wages on the other. That’s not a recipe for hiring.

It’s also not just those higher income levels. According to The Washington Times, “An analysis by the Joint Committee on Taxation, a special congressional panel made up of 10 senior lawmakers from both chambers of Congress, found that individuals making above $200,000 would see their tax burden increase.”

Bigger businesses are hit, as well. Democrats would raise the corporate tax rate from 21% to 26.5%, which, when including state and local taxes, would effectively raise the rate to 31% — once again the highest in the developed world after we finally achieved competitiveness with the 2017 GOP law.

Even CNBC sees a problem: “It’s unclear how much the tax increases would raise and if the new revenue would offset the full investment in social programs. Democrats could ultimately cut the legislation’s price tag as centrists balk at a $3.5 trillion total.” Oh, it’s clear, alright. Tax increases don’t ever quite pan out enough to pay for leftist spending schemes. They do, however, hamper economic growth.

If passed, the Democrat tax plan would essentially reverse the Republicans’ 2017 tax cuts, as well as undercut the economic gains that law fueled. Milking the American people to consolidate power rather than seeking to grow the economy appears to be the Democrats’ root motive, despite all Joe Biden’s rhetoric of “building back better.”