BERNED OUT
QUESTIONS are being raised over Bernie Sanders' radical reforms - after he admitted he had no idea how much proposals would actually cost.
Following a landslide victory in the Nevada caucus, 78, has become the Democrat favourite to take on Donald Trump in the 2020 Presidential elections.
3
3
But during an interview on CBS 60 Minutes, Sanders said policies such as childcare provision reforms - estimated at a staggering $1.5 trillion over a decade - and a Medicare-for-all plan that could cost $30trillion in the next ten years, would be covered by a "tax on wealth".
During the interview, the Vermont senator said he supported socialist ideals held by Fidel Castro, the Cuban revolutionary leader.
His insistence that it was unfair to dismiss everything about the Castro regime was judged by Democrats in Florida to have killed off his chances of winning in the joint third-largest state.
And asked if he had a total cost of all his radical plans, Sanders said: “No, I don’t.”
But he attempted to explain how he would meet the costs, saying: “You mentioned making public colleges and universities tuition free and cancelling all student debt. That’s correct. That’s what I want to do. We pay for that through a modest tax on Wall Street speculation."
When quizzed on how he would pay for everything if he did not know the cost, he said: “Well, I can’t, you know, I can’t rattle off to you every nickel and every dime.
"But we have accounted for . . . you talked about Medicare for all: we have options out there that will pay for it.”
A fact sheet released just before the interview went live showed that many of Bernie Sanders' socialist policies relied heavily on conjecture and best-case scenarios.
His plan proposes eliminating medical debt by introducing an “income inequality tax on large corporations that pay CEOs at least 50 times more than average workers”.
Mr Sanders has also proposed a 4 percentage point rise in tax on income over $29,000 - but argued that families will save money because they will not have to pay insurance premiums or other health costs.
If this is the case, nearly 160 million Americans will have to give up their private health insurance, which cost him the support of the main union in Nevada.
He also proposed to make all "public colleges, universities and trade schools tuition-free ... and cancel all student debt over the next decade."
MOST READ IN NEWS
The proposal specifically would place a "0.5 percent tax on stock trades – 50 cents on every $100 of stock – a 0.1 percent fee on bond trades, and a 0.005 percent fee on derivative trades."
Speaking of his target of taxing the wealthy, he said. “It’s taxes on billionaires, you know? You know, I get a little bit tired of hearing my opponents saying, "Gee, how’re you going to pay for a programme that impacts and helps children or working-class families or middle-class families?"
"And yet, where are people saying, "How are you going to pay for over $750 billion on military spending?" How are you going to pay for a trillion dollars in tax breaks to the 1 per cent in large corporations, which was what Trump did?”
3
Topics