Democrats in Congress are proving to be harder to corral behind a $3.5 trillion multiplicity of tax increases and entitlement expansions than their leaders had hoped. So behold the new White House spin: The agenda that was being sold a few weeks ago as the modern equivalent of the New Deal or Great Society is actually so modest it doesn’t cost a thing.

“Every time I hear this is going to cost A, B, C, or D—the truth is, based on the commitment that I made, it’s going to cost nothing,” President Biden said at a press conference...

President Joe Biden delivers remarks from the State Dining Room of the White House on Sept. 24.

Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Democrats in Congress are proving to be harder to corral behind a $3.5 trillion multiplicity of tax increases and entitlement expansions than their leaders had hoped. So behold the new White House spin: The agenda that was being sold a few weeks ago as the modern equivalent of the New Deal or Great Society is actually so modest it doesn’t cost a thing.

“Every time I hear this is going to cost A, B, C, or D—the truth is, based on the commitment that I made, it’s going to cost nothing,” President Biden said at a press conference Friday, trying to restore momentum to the reconciliation package, “because we’re going to raise the revenue.”

We didn’t know that when you pay for something that makes it free. But the White House apparently thinks it has a winner. The clip of Mr. Biden was shared on Twitter by a National Economic Council flack with the claim that “Building Back Better is going to cost zero dollars,” which was retweeted by White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain.

White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates told Axios, “The bill’s price tag is $0 because it will be paid for by ending failed, special tax giveaways for the richest taxpayers and big corporations, adding nothing to the debt.” One requirement of a modern political flack is being incapable of embarrassment.

And so a talking point is born, or at least trying to be: The largest tax increase as a share of GDP and the largest entitlement expansion since the 1960s costs nothing. And money grows on trees.

In the real world, Congress’s Joint Committee on Taxation says the bill raises $2.1 trillion over 10 years. Somebody must be paying more. Among the tax hikes are a 5.5 percentage point increase in the corporate income tax rate that will be paid by workers in lower wages, consumers in higher prices and investors in lower returns. Though they’ll be pleased to know this all adds up to “zero dollars.”

As for the spending, the $3.5 trillion figure that Bernie Sanders considers a “compromise” doesn’t even capture the full cost of what Democrats are proposing. As we explained Friday, that amount is based on budget gimmickry including entitlement phaseouts and phase-ins, and the real cost will be at least $5 trillion, probably far more.

So even after $2.1 trillion in tax hikes, the entitlements in the reconciliation package that include the child allowance, college tuition, national pre-K, universal child care, expanded Medicare and a new Medicaid program will add to the U.S. debt for decades to come.

If the White House thinks these programs are worth the cost, it could make that case. Instead the political situation is apparently so desperate that it’s resorting to deception that is transparently ludicrous.

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