Trump versus Biden: what exactly are they promising US citizens?
President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden are in their final moments before the US electoral race comes to a halt. More than 90 million people have cast their ballots in early voting, which put the country on course for its highest voting turnout in the last century. The tension is almost unbearable with everything else that is going on in the world today, and this particular election gives off the notion that it will affect more nations than the one it is taking place in, putting even those that cannot vote on edge.
To help you keep perspective on the matter, we listed the five main opposing promises that the two candidates have stated, so that whatever happens, at least you’ll have a substantial (even if illusory) way of direction. Here are the promises:
If Trump wins the election
Job creation
If Trump gets elected to run in a second term agenda, he first and foremost seems to be promising a healthier economy with a focus on jobs and taxes. Trump has also taken credit for the booming economy that the US was enjoying before the COVID-19 pandemic, and has vowed to rebuild it as well as to create 10 million new jobs in 10 months and one million new small businesses. Tax cuts are a big part of this promise, which he had already started to introduce in his first term. These tax cuts and credits would supposedly entice companies to keep jobs in the US rather than overseas.
End COVID-19
After drinking bleach as a remedy against COVID-19 was thankfully put aside, finding an effective vaccine for COVID-19 within the coming months has proven worthy of Trump’s attention, enough for the Trump administration to launch ‘Operation Warp Speed’, which goal is to encourage the development and distribution of a successful vaccine. Trump has promised to deliver this success by the end of 2020.
Law and order (we wish we were talking about the sitcom)
After months of protests against police brutality and racism, Trump has promised to defend America’s police forces instead of its citizens. His campaign promises to protect police funding as well as hire more officers, increase the level of punishments for attacks made on police and take action against political protest movements.
More than this, the law and order incentive also includes tougher action to be taken against illegal immigration, which will include stronger requirements for legal immigrants in turn. On the other hand, Biden promises to reverse the separation of parents from their children and rescind limits on the number of applicants for asylum as well as end the bans on travel from several majority-Muslim countries.
Tax plan
Like Biden, Trump is trying to lure US citizens into giving their vote by promising them a better tax plan, which would be to retain the 37 per cent income tax rate on higher earners, and lower the 22 per cent rate for middle earners down to 15 per cent. However, this has not all been formalised by his campaign yet.
If Biden wins the election
Health
Having spent almost five decades in politics, Biden is using his experience to portray himself as a steady and able hand to calm a country in chaos. He is appealing to reluctant voters who are nostalgic about the Obama era. Obama has recently joined forces with Biden on his campaign train in Michigan. For Biden, health care has been made clear as one of his top priorities due to his family history. His plan is to expand the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and insure that around 97 per cent of Americans have access to public health insurance.
Environment
Biden has some ambitious, yet necessary plans to combat climate change, which include overhauling the country’s energy industry to achieve 100 per cent emission free power by 2035. A pledge of a $2 trillion dollar investment will go towards the clean-energy infrastructure if Biden wins the election, along with a promise to build 1.5 million energy efficient homes and social housing units. In his second presidential debate with Trump, he has promised to transition from the oil industry and wants to decrease fracking, which is a method of extracting natural gas from the ground.
America’s world relationships
Biden wants to restore America’s reputation and relationships with the rest of the world and allies, particularly with the NATO alliance, which is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 North American and European countries. He also looks to repair ties with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and wants to rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement. He further said he will hold China accountable for unfair trade practices, but has suggested that it would be best to tackle this as an international effort rather than through trade wars.
Tax plan
Biden promises to raise taxes on the wealthiest US citizens, which he defines as those with an income of more than $400,000 per year. He wants to impose a marginal tax rate increase so that the more an employee earns over that certain threshold, the more tax they must pay. Most of those who will be affected by this promise are those in the top 1 to 2 per cent earners in the US.
Biden also wants capital gains and dividends to be taxed at income rates. A notable endorsement has been towards his promise in forgiving student loan debt, expansion of tuition free colleges and universal preschool access, which would be paid using money gained from withdrawing from the Trump-era tax cuts.
