Biden calls for more taxes on rich, slams 'elitist' Trump in PA visit

President Joe Biden has made a nostalgic return to the house where he grew up in working-class Scranton, kicking off a multi-day swing through Pennsylvania where he called for higher taxes on the rich and tried to cast Donald Trump as an out-of-touch elitist — part of an attempt to blunt the populist appeal of his predecessor's comeback bid.

Biden appeared to savour his trip down memory lane on Tuesday, lingering longer than expected at his childhood home. An American flag waved softly in the wind on the front porch as neighbours crowded the nearby sidewalk under flowering trees and a pale blue sky.

The president later posed for photos with children, some wearing school uniforms, in the backyard.

A city of roughly 75,000, the president used Scranton to argue that getting rich in America is fine, but should come with heftier tax bills.

He dismissed Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, as a tool of wealthy interests.

It's all aimed at reframing the conversation around the economy, which has left many Americans feeling sour about their financial situations at a time of stubborn inflation and elevated interest rates despite low unemployment.

"When I look at the economy, I don't look at it through the eyes of Mar-a-Lago. I look at it through the eyes of Scranton," the president said in a speech before visiting his family's former house.

He was contrasting his modest upbringing with the Florida estate where the former president now lives.

Targets GOP policies

Biden has proposed a 25 percent minimum tax rate for billionaires.

He added that taxes are "how we invest in the country."

The president said decades of GOP policies that cut taxes for the wealthy with the idea of stimulating the economy "failed America, and Donald Trump embodies that failure."

He detailed his own working-class upbringing while scoffing that Trump's background taught him little more than "the best way to get rich is to inherit it."

Along the way, Biden worked in-jokes about the sharp fall in the market value of the former president's social media platform.

After spending the night in Scranton, Biden was continuing to Pittsburgh on Wednesday, then goes back to the White House, only to hit Philadelphia on Thursday.

Gaza protest

Crowds lined the streets to mostly cheer, though there were protests against the Biden administration's support for Israel in its brutal war on besieged Gaza.

Biden faces a loosely organised effort by critics who say he has not done enough to stop the Israeli genocide in Gaza, where Israel's air and ground brutal war has led to widespread disease and famine in the Palestinian enclave.

Amber Viola, a 38-year-old Scranton resident who runs a popular local political podcast, said she was invited by the Biden campaign to attend the Scranton event but turned it down.

"I don't feel comfortable posing for campaign photos when there are people dying," Viola said.

Voters mounted opposition efforts in Democratic primaries in other battleground states like Michigan, Wisconsin and North Carolina to register their protest.

Biden has faced protests at many public events in recent months.