Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has identified key plans and the corresponding changes to the federal tax code that would fund these plans on his website. The revenues needed to pay for these plans would come from five primary sources: increases in (1) federal income taxes, (2) payroll taxes, (3) business income taxes, (4) estate/gift taxes, and (5) two new excise taxes. There is variance regarding the amount the plan would generate in a decade but the average is roughly $14.5 trillion. Aside from personal opinions regarding changes, the intrinsic questions seem to be- Will Bernie’s proposed changes to the tax code generate enough revenue to cover his plans? Economists’ predictions along with Sanders’s own estimates state that no, Sander’s tax plan will not be able to generate enough revenues to cover all of his plans as expansively larger taxes and governmental spending will severely damage long-term economic growth.
In order to analyze Sander’s plan more in depth, it is beneficial to look at each proposed change to the federal tax code individually. First, increases in federal income taxes. There are many changes Sander’s has proposed in regards to income taxes but according to the Tax Policy Center, the three changes that are expected to generate the biggest portion of revenue over the next decade are: (1) four new surtax brackets for high-income households; (2) taxing of gains/dividends as ordinary income; and (3) raising the net investment income tax to 10 percent. Collectively, the increases to federal income taxes are expected to generate $4.9 trillion over the next ten years. The two primary objectives that are intended to be met with these changes are expanding and extending social security, and a new, government-administered health care program. While the costs of the plans vary from analyst to analyst, for this paper, the costs estimated on Bernie