It doesn't have to be, but I thought this is how it generally works, higher taxes and employee wages get passed to consumers. This is why taxing the wealthy individually and redistributing wealth (government jobs, basic livable income, healthcare) is key in the long term. Otherwise this cycle continues.
That’s only how it works when profits are artificially prevented from decreasing. Under more reasonable economics, regulation and taxation are leveraged against corporations that behave in this manner, but in US economics the pressure on behalf of consumers is absent.