As he seeks re-election, President Biden is trying to sell voters on his approach to the economy and contrast his potential 2024 opponent, former President Donald J. Trump.
During Mr. Biden’s administration, the economy grew 3.1 percent from the end of 2022 to the end of 2023. The rate of inflation fell significantly from the summer of 2022 to its peak (although it fell less than what economists expected in January). And the jobs keep coming.
In recent public events and campaign events, however, Mr. Biden has made some misleading statements about the economy, jobs and taxes.
Here is a fact check.
WHAT HE SAID
“Now we have a thousand billionaires in America. Do you know what their average tax rate is — federal tax? 8.2 percent.”
— during a campaign in late January
This is misleading. Mr. Biden was referring to a White House study that sought to use a “more comprehensive measure of income” than how income is currently assessed. In other words, he offered a hypothetical of what the rate would be if the law were different.
More specifically, the study, released in 2021, included earnings on unsold shares. By law, these gains are not taxed until the asset is sold. The report estimated that the average federal income tax rate paid by the 400 wealthiest families in the United States is 8.2 percent.
While there’s debate over whether the law should count that kind of income, presenting that 8.2 number without explanation leaves room for the wrong impression, said Garrett Watson, senior policy analyst at the right-wing Tax Foundation.
For example, the public may then incorrectly compare this 8.2 percent to other average federal income tax rates. To make a more accurate comparison with, say, a middle-income person’s tax rate, the same exercise would have to be done to also incorporate their unrealized gains, such as from increased value in investment accounts or homes, said the Mr. Watson.
(The Tax Foundation has also argued that the White House’s analysis should also consider corporate income taxes, since many business founders may hold stock in their companies, but the companies are taxed on their profits each year.)
Under the law, the top 1 percent of earners in the United States are estimated to currently pay an average federal income tax of more than 20 percent, according to a Treasury Department analysis in November. An IRS report that specifically looked at the top 400 individual income tax returns found that those taxpayers paid an average tax rate of about 23 percent in 2014.
WHAT HE SAID
“I signed the CHIPS and Science Act, which attracted $640 billion in investment from private companies that build factories, creating American jobs again.”
— during an event this month
False. Estimates of the private investment spurred by the CHIPS and Science Act, which gave billions to the chip industry, fall short of $640 billion. By some measures, it’s a fraction of that: An estimate from the Semiconductor Industry Association puts the figure at about $220 billion.
Mr. Biden signed the legislation in August 2022, which included about $52 billion in subsidies and tax credits for manufacturers of semiconductors — chips used in electronics — to open or expand in the United States. It also invested heavily in research into artificial intelligence, quantum computing and other technologies.
Mr. Biden was referring to a White House estimate of private investment made in various industries during his presidency, not only in response to the CHIPS legislation but also as a result of the Inflation Reduction Act and bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure act.
This estimate recorded that there has been $649 billion worth of private investment in several 21st century industries, including clean energy and electric vehicles. The White House says it arrived at the number by counting projects announced in public sources.
WHAT HE SAID
“And let’s get something straight. Trump talks about pocket checks. But in 2021, as soon as I came into office, I was the guy who sent each of you those $1,400 checks.”
— during a campaign in late January
This needs context. Both Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump signed legislation providing stimulus payments to Americans as the United States battled the coronavirus.
In March 2020, Mr. Trump signed a $2 trillion measure known as the CARES Act, which provided for payments of $1,200 per person and an additional $500 per child. Months later, in December 2020, Mr. Trump signed a stimulus package that included $600 checks and an additional $600 per child. (He had pushed for the second round of payments to be increased to $2,000.)
Two months after taking office, in March 2021, Mr. Biden signed a $1.9 trillion economic aid package, called the American Rescue Plan Act, which provided for payments of $1,400 per person and another $1,400 per child.
WHAT HE SAID
“The only president other than Donald Trump to lose jobs during an administration was Herbert Hoover.”
— during a campaign in late January
This needs context. Mr. Biden is correct that Mr. Trump ended his term with a negative jobs record — the only president to do so since World War II — but he omits that this happened because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Using January 2017, when Mr. Trump was inaugurated, as a baseline, there were 145.6 million jobs, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. When it left in January 2021, there were 142.9 million jobs. This is a reduction of 2.7 million jobs, or 1.9%.
But before the pandemic hit, Mr. Trump had a positive jobs record. Jobs increased from 145.6 million jobs in January 2017 to 152 million jobs in January 2020 — an increase of 6.4 million jobs, or 4.4 percent.
About half of the nearly 22 million jobs lost in early 2020 were recovered before Mr. Trump left office.
The same figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics go back to 1939, several years after Mr. Hoover left the White House in 1933. But Mr. Hoover was president at the start of the Great Depression, and when he left office, nearly a quarter of the labor force was unemployed.
Curious about the accuracy of a claim? Email factcheck@nytimes.com.
