Sanders supporters think he is the most honest politician. Why doesn't he talk about taxes needed?

[hill2016]

In the last debate he was asked very directly how much he would raise the marginal rate on the highest tax bracket.

He said he hadn't worked that out yet. To be this is astonishing, that he is running on a platform of raising taxes on the rich but hasn't quite worked out that part yet.

Two months to the Iowa caucus and he hasn't even bothered to nail that down?

Socialism means sharing in both the costs and benefits (free health care, free education, infrastructure, etc). He keeps point at Denmark but does he talk about the taxes there as well? Why isn't he upfront about how much taxes he needs to raise from the middle class?

[Fawke Em]

1. He has.

Healthcare and Paid Family Leave: You pay a bit more in taxes (and we're talking a few dollars a week), but you don't have premiums and deductibles. You don't have to pay for out-of-pocket temporary unemployment insurance and/or you can stay home with your newborn or sick family member for longer than a week or two. You SAVE money.

Education: That's all a tax on Wall Street speculation. Unless you're a hedge fund manager or REALLY into playing the stock market for your 401K, this won't effect the average American.

[hill2016]

22. numbers don't work

on a financials tax. won't cover free tuition for everyone.

what about other major proposal?

[Duckhunter935]

32. once again with the misinformation

If I did not know better, I would think you are just lying. It is not free education for everybody unless everybody goes to state and community colleges. That is all that is covered and Hillary and the Donald will still pay out of pocket to send their kids to the premium ivy league collages.

[Eric J in MN]

2. Hillary Clinton hasn't explained her tax policies.

Bernie Sanders supports Senator Kirsten Gillibrand's bill to pay for paid-family-and-medical leave through a small increase in the payroll tax.

Hillary Clinton says she's for paid-family-and-medical leave but against higher payroll taxes, and hasn't explained how she'll pay for it.

[cascadiance]

4. Has she taken a stand on a war tax like Bernie has on millionaires?

That has those who profit from the military industrial complex PAY for our wars?

http://thehill.com/policy/finance/236463-sanders-to-push-war-tax-for-millionaires-to-finance-piece-of-gop-budget

Seems like Hillary's missing the policy here that most Americans will want to have bills paid PROPERLY by those profiting from the socialist gifts to the wealthy that our current corporatist government is engaged in.

[Live and Learn]

7. I wonder how she will pay for that war on Syria that I think she will get us in to. nt

[jfern]

15. Wars never need to be paid for

Only things that actually help regular people need to be paid for. $2 trillion wars like Iraq that Hillary voted for just go on the credit card.

[Live and Learn]

16. Except for the lives of those they send to war. No credit available for that unfortunately.

Though we can hide the coffins and make it all seem okay.

[mythology]

34. You do realize that Sanders voted to fund those same wars right?

And Sanders continues to support the F-35 program which has been nothing but a money sink, but it's a money sink that benefits Vermont.

[Bluenorthwest]

37. Senator Obama also voted to fund those wars, which he says he opposed from day one just like

Bernie, although Bernie had an actual no vote on Iraq and Obama was not yet in DC. Do you think Obama voting to fund the war means he was really for it all along? I don't.

[Duckhunter935]

33. not to mention

the hundreds of billions of dollars of new infrastructure she just promised.

[HerbChestnut]

3. Attacking Bernie's honesty?

Which is considered one of his greatest assets. How Rovian of you.

[madokie]

19. To be expected

Hillary has holes in her rhetoric so big you can fly a 747 through them and not cause a soul to worry if it'll make it through unscathed.

[hill2016]

23. and where's his plan

to pay for all his platform?

[Scootaloo]

26. Maybe you ought to go have a look at said platform. Watch a few of his presentations?

[hill2016]

39. such as where?

does he have concrete numbers like say the highest marginal tax bracket?

[riversedge]

28. LOTS of diversion posts but no responses to your good guestion.

[hill2016]

45. yes

In my opinion, Sanders is all talk no plan.

[Live and Learn]

5. Seems like a very honest answer to me. He has given estimates but giving exact numbers will need

to wait until he sees what can be passed. He has also said changes will be incremental. He knows what he is doing.

[Cali_Democrat]

6. The answer is simple

If he disclosed the actual amount he would need to raise in taxes in order to pay for his agenda, people would run away from him in droves.

He obviously thinks it's a better strategy to keep people in the dark.

Ignorance is bliss I suppose.

[Eric J in MN]

9. Somehow in Canada the voters didn't run away from

...candidates who support single-payer and vote in candidates who eliminated it.

[Live and Learn]

13. Of course, obviously WE CAN'T find a way to help all citizens!

Love the Hillary supporters new motto!

[litlbilly]

17. run away in droves to who? Hillary ? Not a chance...

[Thinkingabout]

8. If he said how high the tax rate would go but he will give the rate.

He can't pay for his policies without digging in really deep into our pockets. He talked about cutting defense spending but forgets about his votes to keep the money flowing. We don't have to worry about enough tax increases to get his programs funded.

[Live and Learn]

14. What is sad is how some aren't willing to pay a bit more to ensure everyone actually

gets equal treatment. It is not just sad, it is disgusting. Sorry, I refuse to join the WE CAN'T campaign.

[pangaia]

10. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I'm going to bed..
I'm reading KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL for the third time..

[gordyfl]

11. Most Americans Willing to Pay Higher Taxes for...

[phleshdef]

12. He was being honest when he said he hadn't worked it all out yet.

[Betty Karlson]

18. Those raises would be more than compensated by reduced health care costs.

And when Sanders says: "I have not worked that out yet" he means that there are several options for taxing the rich (increased taxes on capital gains over a certain amount, closing tax loopholes, going after tax dodgers a.k.a. getting Romney upset, specific fees on financial transactions for collaterised speculation) and he wants congress to discuss the merits of them all before he puts his political capital behind one or more in specific.

Clinton: "I'll say what you want me to say, then do what I plan to do, and meanwhile my opponent is socialism socialism socialism"

It used to be the GOP who campaigned like that. What happened?

[madokie]

21. Simple

Hillary is a 'CON in democratic clothing


I will vote for hillary if she is the last one standing but only then will I. I am a 100% democratic party voter

[hill2016]

24. what if he plans to raise

taxes on the middle class?

would that be okay with you?

[Kentonio]

25. Is the middle class still people earning $250,000?

[hill2016]

46. $250k

doesn't go very far in my town once you factor in taxes, rental, private school (which can be as much as tuition at some colleges), nanny, housekeeping, etc.

You're barely breaking even.

[pengu]

56. Private School, Nanny, House Keeping

lol

[hill2016]

59. do you have any idea

how much these cost?

[Kentonio]

57. Brilliant.

[hill2016]

58. do you have any idea

how much these cost?

[Kentonio]

60. Do you have any idea

What middle class is?

[bobbobbins01]

64. This is a joke, correct?

Please tell me its a joke.

[Betty Karlson]

38. Define middle class, and tell me which is more important:

keeping taxes low or increasing effective consumer spending power.

[Recursion]

20. All it takes is a calculator

He's talking about roughly a 12% payroll levy, or a 20% VAT, or some combination of them, above all current revenues (that's for healthcare, not his free tuition idea; he also has a financial transaction tax proposal that he's committed to both healthcare and college tuition -- it could pay for about a quarter of either). He's also implicitly saying physicians will take about a 40% pay cut across the board.

You can jigger with the payroll levy rate by making it more progressive, but that's the order of magnitude we're looking at.

But, to the larger point, yeah: Sanders's refusal to actually get down to numbers on this is incredibly disappointing.

[AgingAmerican]

27. Why don't you listen?

You have no clue what Democratic Socialism is.

Healthcare isn't free in a Democratic Socialist country. Neither is education. Universal healthcare would cost about 9% of the average budget. Below is what we pay now. Universal healthcare is cheaper, and you don't have to lose everything when you get sick. It's basic math.

[riversedge]

29. It would be political suicide, that is the reason.

[NurseJackie]

35. It's a cotton candy campaign.

Big and fluffy. An exciting, pretty and impressive sight. But look closely and you'll see that it's mostly air, no nutritional value and filled with empty calories.

[Fearless]

30. Ahhh. The straw grasping continues.

[hill2016]

40. where are his plans

on how to raise revenue?

what is the highest marginal tax rate

[NCTraveler]

43. They truly don't care.

The mask is being removed and it is clear they just have to try to stick to hero status. Reality doesn't conform to what they have built up for Sanders. They think they can just mock people and it is a winning strategy. They keep pointing all while forgetting that four fingers are pointing back at their finger waving asses.

To them wanting to discuss issues is "grasping." One hundred percent confirmed by the post you just replied to. Wanting to actually discuss the nuts and bolts is "grasping." If that wasn't their reply it would simply be deflection. "Well Hillary..... Whahhhhh."

[Fearless]

47. I'm sorry facts aren't up for debate.

I'm not going to engage you over your misinformation.

[hill2016]

49. this is a fact

from the last debate:

[Question]:

Well, let's get specific, how high would you go? You said before you'd go above 50%. How high?

BERNIE SANDERS:

We haven't come up with an exact number yet.

LOL. You couldn't even get away with this excuse in junior high...

"I haven't come up with an exact number yet."

[Fearless]

50. Regarding the wealthy. And he shouldn't make up numbers

Your lack of understanding of economic policy is clear. I will not debate misinformation.

[hill2016]

52. in order words

you have no answer

[Fearless]

54. No my dear, you have no clue.

[Armstead]

63. His plans are there...You are free to agree or disagree with them

But don' lie and continually claim he is lying.

For example his plan is to tax speculkation to cover public college costs.

Okay, may that will cover it, maybe it won't. Maybe it's fair maybe it's discriminatory.

Those are honest differences of opinion. And maybe Bernie would try it but in running the theoritical nmumkbers once in office numbers finds it doesn't cover it all. That's happened to many (most) politicians. Remember Reagan and GHW Bush? And Bill Clinton's campaign promises in that regard? They all had to adjust.


But don't repeatedly make this phony claim that sanders is promising free shit without saying how he'd pay for it.,

[firebrand80]

31. Because he's not a serious candidate

He's probably already gotten further than he thought he would. No point in fixing what ain't broke.

He still has time to make this a serious run if he wants to. We'll see what happens.

[Bluenorthwest]

36. See, dishonest is when you carry on as if you had it all worked out ala Obama on mandates

Obama as candidate asserted that Hillary was out to pick your pocket with individual mandates to buy insurance which Obama mocked 'trying to solve health care by mandating insurance purchase is like trying to solve homelessness by mandating that everyone buy a house'.
Then of course, as it turned out, he either knew he was spinning bull or he simply had not really figured it out at all but still allowed himself to carry on about how right he was, how wrong she was.

I guess that's dandy with some of you, but I sure as hell don't want to do business with those who see that as ethical behavior.

[mmonk]

41. He has. But honest numbers are hard

to come by when the media and parties are dishonest and mostly concerned about not taxing the well to do or corporations.

[NCTraveler]

42. He is a career politician.

Please note your own quote: "Sanders supporters think he is the most honest politician."

That really isn't saying much. They have also stated he is on his way to winning fifty states, that POC are stupid if they don't support him, that being an insider and career politician is somehow signs of being an outsider, that pandering to the right is wonderful but only when one candidate does it, etc..

It's just comical at this point. How did his speech on socialism that won the election for him go? Then notice what they did with moveon. Op after op about Clinton not attending yet not a damn one of them actually watched. True comedy gold.

[workinclasszero]

44. This is why Bernie could never be elected President

Could you imagine the field day the republicans would have with Bernie? OMG

Every debate, every campaign commerical would be about them forcing Bernie to admit that all the free stuff he is offering is in fact, not free and the voters, rich poor and in between, will be paying for them with much increased taxes.

One way to mitigate the huge tax increases needed would be to gut our bloated military and close most overseas military bases which I am in favor of but lots of voters aren't unfortunately.

So democratic candidate Bernie will be tagged by the thugs as 1. A hardcore leftist/communist 2. A lover of taxes 3. Weak on defence

And....

Say hello to President Trump and may God have mercy on this idiot/fascist country! The SCOTUS will be hard right for the next 30 years or so as well.

Bernie and his followers know the american people will run like hell away from him if he was to discuss how his pie in the sky plans get paid for hence the secrecy/silence on their part.

[Capt. Obvious]

48. Your obsessive concern about tax and spend liberals is noted

[hill2016]

51. I've heard the spend part

I haven't heard the tax part from Sanders yet.

And I mean real proposals not some fluffy "tax the rich and we don't have to tax anyone else".

[Sheepshank]

53. Do you realize what would happen if Hillary came out some airy fairy calculation...

...on something as important as raising taxes to an unspecified level?

OMFG, the anguish, the wailing and gnashing of teeth.....it would be just another cause for impotent outrage because of "oligarchs" or "war hawk" or "$12/HR" or "e-mail" ...................

Looks like Bernie will get a pass on this by his followers.

[tularetom]

55. You really hate taxes don't you?

Maybe the tea party would be a better fit for you.

[hill2016]

61. well

do you think that Sanders should just announce "our plan is we're gonna tax everyone!!!!"?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

62. "Taxes are the price we pay for civilization." Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

A questionable outcome considering how much we waste on the MIC, elections, and payoffs to corporations but still apt.