Democrats’ 2020 policy proposals likely require tax hikes on the middle class
Presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders , seen in 2016, is in favor of Medicare-for-all, which, like proposals by others in the race, would likely require higher taxes. By Jeff Stein Jeff Stein Reporter for Wonkblog Email Bio Follow March 28 at 7:00 AM Sen. Kamala D. Harris is campaigning for president on a plan to cut working-class taxes by nearly $3 trillion, promoting legislation that would boost wages but slash federal revenue by giving thousands of dollars to millions of Americans.
Now, Democrats in Congress and on the 2020 presidential campaign trail have proposed a number of new or expanded federal programs, but have been largely silent on how to pay for them, arguing the details can be filled in later or during the process of passing legislation.
Left-leaning Democrats have rolled out several new ideas to dramatically increase taxes on the rich, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s tax on wealth above $50 million, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s proposed 70 percent tax on income above $10 million, Sanders’s proposed 77 percent tax rate on billionaire estates, and a Wall Street transactions tax.
Jeffrey Sachs, a professor at Columbia University who backed Sanders in the 2016 presidential election, said these policies could be financed in part through higher taxes on the middle class. He pointed to the example set by America’s peer nations in Europe and argued the United States is the outlier rather than the norm, noting Scandinavian countries that publicly provide health care, college tuition, paid vacation, and family benefits are consistently ranked the happiest in the world.
If the United States took in roughly as much in tax revenue as the Scandinavian countries do, the federal government would have an additional $50 trillion to spend over 10 years, said Matt Bruenig, founder of the People’s Policy Project, a socialist think tank.
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