So the “Bernie Sanders Exposed” group on Facebook put this up as I guess reasons not to vote for him but all I’ve been seeing all day is people going FUCK YEAH I’LL VOTE FOR THAT.
PRINT THIS OUT AS A CAMPAIGN POSTER I CAN GET BEHIND THIS
I like Bernie and his ideas but if everything is free then where does the money to pay for them come from
I dunno, m8. maybe do some research.
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/5/19/bernie-sanders-unveils-plan-for-tuition-free-public-colleges.html
The federal funding for Sanders’s proposal would come from a tax on financial transactions. Stock trades, bonds, and derivative trading would be taxed at rates of 0.5 percent, 0.1 percent, and 0.005 percent, respectively. Supporters of the financial transaction tax, which they call the “Robin Hood tax,” say it is not only a progressive way to raise revenue but would also discourage dangerous levels of Wall Street speculation.
http://money.cnn.com/2015/05/20/news/bernie-sanders-free-college/
His bill, called The College for All Act, would lower interest rates on federal student loans, give graduates a chance to refinance existing loans at lower rates, and stop the government from making profits on student loans.
To fund the legislation by generating up to $300 billion a year, Sanders proposes instituting a 0.5% tax on trades of stocks and 0.1% tax on bonds and an even smaller fee on so-called derivatives, such as stock options and futures contracts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmkS6daFKBA
Here’s a little video with a discussion, the source they link to is the one right above this.
http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/recent-business/cover-more-americans-for-less-cost
“It is time for us to end private, for-profit participation in delivering basic coverage. It is time for the United States to provide a Medicare-for-all single-payer health coverage program,“ Sanders said.
While making the case for a single-payer system nationwide, Sanders applauded his home state of Vermont for its progress toward developing its own single-payer system which could become a model for the nation.
http://www.healthcare-now.org/index.php?s=Bernie+Sanders+S.+1782
The Program amends the tax code to create the American Health Security Trust Fund and appropriates to the Fund specified tax revenues, current health program receipts, and tax credits and subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. While the final structure of the financing component is still under consideration and is subject to change, the tax revenues in the draft include a new health care income tax, an employer payroll tax, a surcharge on high income individuals, and a tax on securities transactions.
http://www.sanders.senate.gov/download/american-health-security-act-of-2013?inline=file
A link to the actual healthcare bill.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/1200
A link to a summary of the bill. You’ll notice that it says that it eliminates medicare, medicaid and several other benefits, but that doesn’t matter because it gives those benefits right back under a different name to ALL Americans. Oh, and look at that:
“Amends the Internal Revenue Code to impose on individuals: (1) a health care income tax, and (2) an income tax surcharge on amounts of modified adjusted gross income exceeding $1 million. Imposes an excise tax on securities transactions and allows an income tax credit for such taxes.”
So it pays for itself with slightly higher taxes on corporations and the very wealthy. So does the college bill. Yes, they’ll bitch and moan about how it’s going to kill the economy if rich people have to pay one cent more in taxes, but it won’t. If this bill passes they’ll make it sound like it’s the end of the world, but then they’ll be used to it in less than 10 years and it will not have affected the economy in any negative way. They do this every time there’s an increase in taxes. It fucking happened when medicare was introduced. When the minimum wage was increased. When the minimum wage was INTRODUCED. When we got rid of slavery. When we introduced child labor laws. Every restriction and new tax is the “end of business in America,” except that it never is.
So obviously, it’s not magical fairy dust free, it’s an increase in taxes free, but you know what I’m okay with? Paying higher taxes so that I don’t have to pay for college or health insurance. Because both of those cost a TON in the short and long term and financially ruin Americans who need to pay for them but can’t. You know what almost never financially ruins people as long as they actually pay them? Taxes.
tl;dr, Bernie Sanders does have a plan to pay for providing college and healthcare for all, and it’s sustainable.
