Bernie Tells A Young Person Why He Should Pay More Taxes. It’s Sort of Hilarious.

At  Wednesday’s CNN Democratic Presidential Town Hall,  Bernie Sanders was asked how his socialist increase in taxes would help a man feed his family. Sanders offered him some consolation in the form of a downright lie: the premiums the man paid for health care would simply vanish and his taxes wouldn’t hurt too much.

Audience member Chris Brownell asked, “Senator Sanders, the first thing I hear about you is that you’re going to raise taxes on the middle class. I support my family on a salary of $41,000 a year. I’m wondering if you raise my taxes, how does that help me?”

Sanders offered a long-winded response:

This is what we are going to do, the United States is the only major country on earth that doesn’t guarantee healthcare to all people, and we end up spending far, far more per capita on healthcare, as do the people of any other country, Canada, UK, France, whatever. What we are going to fight for, is a Medicare-for-all, single-payer program, which would provide comprehensive healthcare to your family, and every family in America. So, let me tell you what we do, we raise your taxes if you’re somewhere in the middle of the economy, about 500 bucks, but you know what we’re going to do? For healthcare, we’re going to reduce your healthcare costs by $5,000. So, you’re going to pay a little bit more in taxes, but you’re no longer going to have to pay private health insurance premiums. Now, I’ve been criticized for this, but I believe that healthcare is a right of all people, that we should not have these deductibles and co-payments. We should not be paying the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, and our Medicare-for-all program will guarantee comprehensive care to all people, and save middle class families some thousands of dollars a year.”

Brownell, much relieved, joyfully answered, “I mean, if it saves me on health insurance premiums, I will gladly pay more taxes.”

Sanders, gratified that Brownell had fallen hook, line and sinker, rammed the point home: “[S]ometimes people distort things. And I’ve had 30-second ads run against me years ago, Bernie is going to raise your taxes! But they forget to say, we’re going to do away with your private health insurance premiums. Bottom line here is, we spend almost three times more per person than the British, 50% more than the French. We can save substantial sums of money, and my Medicare-for-all system is funded in a very progressive way. Yes, you’ll pay a little bit more, but your health premiums will disappear."

A “little bit more?” Not quite. Sanders plan would require a $2.5 trillion tax increase, as even the leftist American Prospect points out; almost doubling total federal income and estate tax collections in 2014. According to an analysis by Kenneth Thorpe, who was hired by Vermont’s leftist legislators in 2014 to estimate the cost of a single payer system, workers would have to ante up an additional 20 percent of compensation to pay for Sanders’ plan.

Dylan Matthews, of the leftist Vox website, was also disturbed by Sanders’ plan, notingthat the Sanders campaign originally claimed it would save $324 billion annually on prescription drugs, until Thorpe pointed out that United States spent only $305 billion for prescription drugs in 2014. Sanders’ people quickly reduced the savings estimate to $241 billion. As Paul Starr, editor of The American Prospect, stated, “As the entire episode indicates, the Sanders campaign is simply pulling numbers out of the air.”

The Tax Foundation notes that Sanders’ plan would lead to 10.56 percent lower after-tax income for all taxpayers and lead to 6.0 million fewer full-time equivalent jobs.

Even if Brownell can hold on to his job, he’s going to get hurt financially. The pie-in-the-sky plan Sanders offers would leave a lot of people hungry on the ground.

http://www.dailywire.com/news/3193/bernie-tells-young-person-why-he-should-pay-more-hank-berrien?