‘Well short of what is needed to fully finance Medicare for All…’
(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders released a list on Monday that details how he plans to pay for his trillion-dollar proposals.
CNN’s Chris Cuomo calls out Bernie Sanders for claiming to pay for his programs when his plan “is not matching the price tag”https://t.co/ocroZle2ov pic.twitter.com/BtkWi356rO
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 25, 2020
But the numbers don’t add up.
Even CNN’s Chris Cuomo noticed that Sanders’s additional tax proposals would not cover the $16.3 trillion he wants for the Green New Deal, the $30+ trillion he’d need to implement “Medicare for All,” and the $2 trillion it would require to wipe out all student loan debt.
On “Medicare for All,” Sanders identified nine ways his administration would finance the plan. A 4% income-based premium for employees would generate $4 trillion. A 7.5% income-based premium on employers would raise $5.4 trillion. Eliminating current healthcare expenditures would bring in about $5.2 trillion. Taxing capital gains would net another $5.2 trillion. And restoring the federal corporate tax to 35% would bring in about $1 trillion, his plan states.
In total, that’s only $17.5 trillion — less than half of “Medicare for All’s” projected cost.
If my math is right, the #MedicareForAll revenue options add to $17.5 trillion (including a hugely exaggerated $2.5 trillion from capital gains).
This is well short of what is needed to fully finance Medicare for All – https://t.co/7duvw2CsXA https://t.co/XvdzQLMgnZ pic.twitter.com/IxkiTj65mW
— Marc Goldwein (@MarcGoldwein) February 25, 2020
Sanders also claimed he would pay for the Green New Deal by imposing new taxes on the fossil fuel industry and by cutting defense spending.
And the College for All Act — Sanders’s proposed student loan debt forgiveness plan — would be funded by a tax on Wall Street speculation.