Sanders offers possible tax hikes that could pay for universal Medicare
https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/powerpost/wp/2017/09/13/sanders-offers-possible-tax-hikes-that-could-pay-for-universal-medicare/
The six-page document assumes that "our federal government could save up to $500 billion per year" if most insurance was replaced by universal Medicare, waving away more than a third of the yearly cost expected by Republicans.
The taxes themselves would fall on both employers and employees. Sanders floats the idea of a 7.5 percent tax on employers — who would no longer be footing a bill for employee health care — with one workaround. "As workers shift into the new system, employers will be required to pay either 75 percent of what they are currently paying for health care costs for each of their employees who enroll in Medicare for All, or the 7.5 percent payroll tax, whichever is higher," he writes.
Another tax, of 4 percent, would hit individuals, on the theory that they would end up saving money relative to the cost of premiums. "A typical family of four earning $50,000, after taking the standard deduction, would pay a 4 percent income-based premium to fund Medicare for All — just $844 a year — saving that family over $4,400 a year," writes Sanders. Families below the poverty line would pay no net new tax.
The next big slice of funding: higher tax rates on the very wealthy. Income less than $250,000 would be taxed at current rates; income higher than that would be hit harder, on an upward sliding scale, ending at a 52 percent tax on income over $10 million. (The highest income tax rate has not cracked 50 percent since 1981, when President Ronald Reagan slashed the top rate from 70 percent to 50 percent. It is currently 39.6 percent.)
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