New York: Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders says he supports raising the top marginal tax rate to “over 50 per cent” and increasing the corporate tax rate.
In an interview on PBS’ Charlie Rose program on Thursday, the Vermont senator, who is campaigning on a platform of “redistribution of wealth” from the nation’s highest earners to the “disappearing” middle class, revealed that he appears to be gaining traction with his ideas: Sanders said he’d raised more than $6 million in small donations for his campaign so far and expected to cross the $10 million mark by June 30.
Sanders said he was “working right now on a comprehensive tax package, which I suspect will, for the top marginal rates, go over 50 per cent,” though he wouldn’t endorse a specific rate. He often points out that the top marginal rate exceeded 90 per cent under Republican President Dwight Eisenhower.
Although the White House and many Republicans want to lower the corporate tax rate, Sanders said he wanted to raise it, as well as eliminate loopholes that allow corporate and wealthy taxpayers to reduce their tax bill.
“If you look at the collective percentage of revenue coming in from corporations today, it is significantly lower than it was back in the 1950s,” he said. “I think it’s about 10 per cent today.”
The self-described democratic socialist defended his plans to transfer wealth toward a middle class that has seen wages stagnate for more than a decade.
“In the past 30 years … we’re talking about many trillions of dollars being redistributed from the middle class to the top one-tenth of 1 per cent,” he said. “It is time to redistribute money back to the working families of this country from the top one-tenth of of 1 per cent. And tax policy is one of the ways we do that.”
While Although Sanders said he would be “conservative” about committing US troops abroad, he said he was uncertain whether President Barack Obama made the right decision in announcing this week he would send 450 US advisers to help that Iraq stop the incursion of the Islamic State. “I want to think about it. I haven’t reached a conclusion yet,” said Sanders, noting that Obama was trying to “thread a needle here.
“He does not want combat troops in the region; nor do I,” Sanders said. “On the other hand, he wants to play a supportive role. Where the line is drawn, I’m not clear.”
Sanders praised Pope Francis for his grasp of “the vulgarity of money” and his support for efforts to reduce global warming. And although he said he would not attack Hillary Clinton personally, he repeated his criticism of the Democratic front-runner for refusing to declare a position on the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal and noted that her campaigns have “received a great deal of money from Wall Street.” Sanders stopped short, however, of linking her to the banking deregulation signed into law by President Bill Clinton.
“I’m not blaming her for her husband,” he said.
Sanders has, notably, drawn large and enthusiastic crowds in his recent visits to early primary states such asIowa and New Hampshire. He remains a long-shot for the Democratic nomination, acknowledging that Hillary Clinton is “far and away the leader in the polls” in the polls. “But I think we have the momentum,” he said, adding: “We’re in this race to win.”
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