The Democrats held a previously un-scheduled town hall type event at Drake University in Iowa ahead of the caucuses, mostly in an attempt to shield Hillary from her falling poll numbers. Bernie Sanders said “We will raise taxes. Yes we will,” an explicit call for raising taxes on all. This was a big soundbite, but, what is the real deal? Hunter Walker at Yahoo News explains
Sanders made the comment when he was asked about his “Medicare for All†national single-payer health care program. Moderator Chris Cuomo that noted critics of Sanders’ health plan point out he will raise taxes to fund expanded social programs. Sanders said he does plan to increase taxes, but argued his health plan will save people more money than they spend on tax hikes.
“That is an unfair criticism for the following reason. If you are paying, now, $10,000 a year to a private health insurance company and I say to you, hypothetically, ‘You’re going to pay $5,000 more in taxes — or actually less than that — but you’re not going to pay any more private health insurance,’†Sanders said. “Are you going to be complaining about the fact that I’ve saved you $5,000 in your total bills? So, it’s demagogic to say, ‘Oh, you’re paying more in taxes.’ Let’s all talk about — we are going to eliminate private health
insurance premiums and payments not only for individuals, but for businesses.â€â€œJust to be clear, you are going to raise taxes?†Cuomo asked.
“We will raise taxes. Yes we will. But also, let us be clear Chris, because there’s a little bit of disingenuity out there,†Sanders said, adding, “We may raise taxes, but we also are going to eliminate private health insurance premiums for individuals and for businesses.â€
Democrats and their minions are forever calling to raise taxes, generally on That Guy. On Someone Else. A small percentage call for raising taxes on themselves, in terms of their earnings class, yet, refuse to write a check to the IRS, checks which the IRS will gladly accept. What we have here is Sanders mixing two things, raising taxes while promising a Single Payer healthcare system, for which he will supposedly save the citizens oodles of money.
In soundbite and talking points form, it sounds reasonable. Pay an extra $5000 in income tax, but since you aren’t paying the $10000 yearly premium, you save $5000. Hooray! Yet, when you dig in, you realize a few things. First, does this ever work out the way government says? Do you ever really save the money? Does this ever really benefit you? Second, the cost of living will spike, since businesses will also be taxed, and they generally tend to pass operating cost increases on to the consumer, especially when it is all business seeing a tax increase. Third, unless Sanders plans on forcing all medical providers to essentially be nationalized, their cost of doing business will also rise thanks to the tax increases, meaning consumers will pay more. Fourth, these providers will provide lesser quality of service if the reimbursement from Government is lower. They aren’t going to lose money providing service. Fifth, many medical providers will simply shut their doors, decreasing availability.
Of course, this is all immaterial to Democrats like Sanders. The main idea is to make the Citizens even more reliant on the federal government. If you look at almost everything Democrats do, it is simply about that notion. Reliance.
Breitbart has a nice “transcript” of the town hall.
Crossed at Right Wing News.
Read: Bernie Sanders Says His Increased Taxation Plan Will Save People Money »
