Biden’s tax proposals would hurt commercial space

One of the lesser-noted facts of modern American politics is that space, NASA, and the military are not partisan political issues.

Immediately after President Joe Biden took office, shown He said he would continue both the Artemis program, a plan to send astronauts back to the moon and eventually Mars, and the Space Force, a new military branch tasked with operating in space. Since President Donald Trump created both Artemis and the Space Force, Biden’s decision to maintain them was greeted with surprise and delight by many.

But President Biden differs from his predecessors and potential successors in one policy that could harm the commercial space sector. President Trump favors tax cuts to stimulate economic growth and job creation, while Biden favors wealth concentration policies that he says will address the budget deficit and restore “fairness” to the tax code.

Recently, state of the union addressIn addition to raising the corporate tax rate, Biden has proposed imposing what he calls a 25% “billionaire tax.” He argued that such a tax could raise $500 billion over 10 years. Tax increases are part of Biden’s budget proposal. According to CNBC analysis: The White House claims it will be used to reduce the federal deficit by a total of about $3 trillion over the next 10 years.

The idea of ​​a wealth tax proposed by Mr. Biden is for the government to tax a portion of the unrealized capital gains enjoyed by the wealthy. If the value of the asset increases, the government will receive 25% of the increase. The owner does not have to actually sell the property to collect the tax.

The proposal would work at odds with another Biden administration policy, which would encourage the growth of the commercial space sector to advance U.S. space exploration goals. If Congress passes Biden’s tax increase plan, SpaceX, Blue Origin and many other commercial space companies would not have as much money available to build rocket ships and lunar landers as they otherwise would.

NASA’s space efforts, including maintaining the International Space Station, rely primarily on its commercial space arm, run by billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, to operate cost-effectively. Astronauts have been traveling to and from the International Space Station aboard commercial spacecraft for about four years. commercial crew program. Until now, ISS cargo has been replenished For civilian rockets it is even longer.

of spacex starshipThe rocket, currently undergoing testing at the Starbase facility in south Texas, is critical to landing astronauts on the moon for the first time since the Apollo 17 voyage in December 1972. Blue Origin intends to land a cargo version of the Blue Moon on the moon. land on the moon’s surface with In about a year at the earliest Uses New Glenn rocket.

small space launch companies such as rocket lab They are competing for customers who want to send payloads into space. The commercial space revolution has reduced the cost of launching people and cargo into low Earth orbit and beyond.

Also, Commercial monthly payload service The program will be ignored. There have been two attempts to land on the moon so far. The first one, astrobotic, ended in failure. The second was launched by intuitive machine, was (almost) successful. The Commercial Lunar Payload Services Program is a key part of America’s return to the Moon.

The Biden administration faces a choice. We can impose steep tax increases on the private sector and wealthy Americans, or we can make space exploration more aggressive and well-funded by commercial space companies. You can’t have both.

The clash between Biden’s tax plan and the White House’s space ambitions will be a key issue heading into the 2024 election. The issue could be determined not only by the outcome of the presidential election, a rematch between Biden and Donald Trump, but also by negative votes in the congressional elections.

Voters will be forced to make tough choices. Will the United States, and by extension the world, enjoy a future of limitless possibilities facilitated by opening up space to business, or will it be abandoned by the White House’s desire for “tax fairness” and social spending? Either. I hope voters make wise choices.

Mark R. Whittington, who writes frequently about space policy, writes,Why is it so difficult to return to the moon?” Similarly “To the moon, Mars and beyond”, and more recently”Why will America return to the moon?” He blogs at: Karma John’s Corner.