ELECTION 2020

[HairOfTheDog]

OK now I get it............Bernie wants to raise taxes.  Who knew? Thanks. 

Wouldn't a 20% flat tax do the same thing? 

No -- you obviously don't get it.  You missed the main crux/objective of the tax proposals,  my wormy friend.  

As I explained, Bernie proposes to raise taxes on extreme wealth to pay for his plans. 

Bernie's plans are designed to redistribute some of the extreme wealth gained by policies which enabled the extremely wealthy to greatly expand their fortunes over the last four decades (via tax breaks and massive deductions, high inheritance exemptions, unregulated risky Wall Street speculative trades on the backs of investors....) to the middle and lower income households who've not been given those breaks and whose collective wealth has declined over the same period.

Moving to a flat tax of 20% for everyone on everything (with no special breaks for anyone) would be more fair than the current system, in my opinion........though I don't know if it would increase or decrease government revenue. 

However, moving to a flat tax would not accomplish Bernie Sander's 'redistribution' goal.  It would slowly reduce the income inequality gap over time, but would not effect the base income inequality that already exists. 

And, it would likely take a very long time to generate the funds needed to implement universal health care (which is estimated to save the country money after implementation), tuition-free college, aggressive environmental policies and retraining workers for green industries, etc...  The time for change is now, not way off into the future, according to Bernie Sanders and his supporters (and climate scientists).