The theme across the tour this week will be the economy, a key issue for voters and one that Biden has struggled to connect on after severe inflation for much of his presidency.

“Joe Biden’s campaign stops in Pennsylvania this week ought to serve as a sobering reminder of the failures his administration’s policies have had for the Keystone State,” Pennsylvania GOP chairman Lawrence Tabas said in a release.

“This past year alone, inflation within the state has surged…Families cannot afford to go grocery shopping and home prices have skyrocketed. Voters will remember all of President Biden’s failures when they cast their vote this November.”

A contrast in tax policies

Inflation spiked to its highest level in six months last week and polls consistently show voters trust Trump more on the economy and consider it a vital issue.

In Tuesday’s remarks, Biden focused on taxes to reframe the conversation around the economy, which has dogged his reelection campaign. He told the crowd in Scranton that the wealthy should pay more in taxes to reduce the federal deficit and help fund programs for the poor and middle class.

“I’m just asking for basic fairness,” he said, later arguing “no billionaire should pay a lower tax rate than a teacher.”

Trump’s 2017 tax cuts slashed the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% and reduced rates for most individual taxpayers, including the wealthiest Americans. Many of those cuts will sunset in 2025, which raises the stakes of the issue in the presidential race.

Biden and Trump both say they would keep cuts in place for households making under $400,000 annually but they differ when it comes to the highest earners.

Trump has called for extending tax cuts, which would deliver an average $175,000 cut for the top 0.1%. He points to economic growth from 2018 and 2019 after tax cuts were in place.

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