Bernie Sanders rolls out wealth tax plan that would help fund 'Medicare for All'
By Tami Luhby and Gregory Krieg, CNN
Updated 8:01 AM ET, Tue September 24, 2019
Excerpt:
Sanders, a Vermont independent, has come under fire from a number of his 2020 Democratic presidential primary rivals over the cost of his plans, which would run into the trillions of dollars. While he has maintained that the wealthy would foot the bill for most of those proposals, Sanders has acknowledged that the middle class would see their taxes rise to pay for Medicare for All. He says that many Americans would still come out ahead because they would no longer pay premiums or out-of-pocket bills for health care.
The new proposal was rolled out a day after Bloomberg reported that a polling firm associated with former Vice President Joe Biden had been studying which arguments against Medicare for All would be most effective with voters. One of its conclusions: the cost to taxpayers. Sanders responded to the news by insisting again that "no one earning less than $29,000 will pay any new taxes" under his plan, which he called "a great deal for the American people."
Under Sanders' "tax on extreme wealth," married couples worth more than $32 million would pay a 1% tax on their wealth above that threshold. The rate would rise to 2% on net worth between $50 million and $250 million, climbing in increments to a 8% tax on wealth above $10 billion.
"We are going to take on the billionaire class, substantially reduce wealth inequality in America and stop our democracy from turning into a corrupt oligarchy," said Sanders, who earlier this year released a proposal that would expand the federal estate tax on the wealthiest 0.2% of Americans, imposing a top rate of 77% on estates worth more than $1 billion.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/24/politics/bernie-sanders-wealth-tax-proposal-medicare-for-all/index.html