A lifelong socialist, Bernie often gives us the impression we could afford the world if only we taxed “millionaires and billionaires.”
He’s at least partially woken up to fiscal reality, and revised “millionaires and billionaires” downwards to $29,000.
Explaining additional taxes needed to fund his Medicare for all program, Bernie proposed effectively a new payroll tax of 4% on all income above $29,000. “What we will do, is have a 4% tax on income, exempting the first $29,000… What that means is that you are the average family earning $61,000 a year, that means we’re going to tax you on $31,000 at 4%.”
Or in other words, a new tax of $40 per $1000 earned after $29,000.
While this could be a fine deal for some, it does prove that contrary to the claims of the other Democrat front-runner. When Elizabeth Warren was asked about paying for her Medicare for all plan, she shortened “millionaires and billionaires” to just “billionaires.” “It doesn’t raise taxes on anybody but billionaires,” Warren told reporters when asked what income bracket she defined as middle class. She added, “And you know what? The billionaires can afford it.”
In a country like Sweden, which has the entire array of social programs Bernie wants to bring to the U.S., the lowest tax bracket is 32%, and there’s a national sales tax of 25% on top of that.
I’ve found that whenever a politician tells you how much something will cost, or how much they’ll raise your taxes by, it’s a good idea to at least double that estimate. In this case, maybe quadrupling…
