Biden’s Campaign Against “Junk Fees” Is Junk Economics

Topline: Democrats’ crusade against so-called “junk fees” is junk economics and Republicans should go on offense to expose the real junk fees that the Biden administration is forcing on the country

Background

• In an effort to distract from the $15,000 burden the administrative state imposes on every American household annually, President Biden has launched a campaign aimed at tackling so-called “junk fees.”
• Nobody likes junk, so the Biden administration has rebranded business-as-usual as “junk” to justify more aggressive regulatory action.
• The Biden administration has every kind of fee, surcharge, and add-on purchase in its crosshairs—that is, excluding new fees the administration itself is creating, such as mortgage fees on consumers with good credit and steeper royalties on oil and gas leases.
• Biden has cited concerns with banks fining customers for late payments, rental units charging for cleaning expenses, airlines charging for seat selection, and ATMs’ entire funding model of charging a small service fee (usually reimbursed by the bank).

Impact

• While Biden claims that banning certain fees will increase “transparency,” it will only make businesses less competitive, more vulnerable to bank failures, and increase the odds of future government bailouts of the corporate sector.
• If Biden’s regulators had their way, we would get less from these services, and fees would simply be shifted to the customer elsewhere in the receipt.
• Affected industry associations have countered Biden’s false statements with example after example about how these government mandates will hurt both the poor and the businesses that serve them.
• Under Biden’s regulatory strangulation, the economy has been weak and wages have dropped even while prices have gone up.

The solution to affordability isn’t more regulations and restrictions on free enterprise. The solution is more free enterprise. You can read more on AAF’s pro-American, free-market policies here: American Opportunity

Resources

• Advancing American Opportunity (Advancing American Freedom)
• An Annual Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State (Competitive Enterprise Institute)
• Biden’s FHFA Rule Punishes Good Credit Scores (USA Today)
• Biden increases oil royalty rate, scales back lease sales (Associated Press)

Reach out to John Shelton (jshelton@advancingamericanfreedom.com) with any questions.