Senator Elizabeth Warren has finally released the details of how she will pay for a $52 trillion Medicare for All plan without raising taxes on the middle class. It’s a cobbled-together mess of smoke and mirrors accounting propped up by a plethora of tax hikes that would make even the most left-leaning economists blush.
Although Senator Warren still claims she won’t hike taxes on the middle class, in the real world economists agree that task is totally impossible.
- Jeffrey Sachs: “said these policies could be financed in part through higher taxes on the middle class.”
- Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget: “impossible” to finance Medicare for All by only taxing “high earners”
- Kenneth Thorpe: “There’s no question [Medicare for All] hits the middle class.”
Of course, the sticker shock is only the first issue – then there is the specter of job losses and economic shock to deal with. Senator Warren acknowledges in her own plan that implementation of Medicare for All could result in nearly 2 million job losses, merely brushing it off as “part of the cost issue.”
Beyond that, Senator Warren’s math is fuzzy at best. Warren would levy a variety of taxes on the wealthy, banks, and corporations and taxing additional take-home pay – sending massive shockwaves through the economy. She would levy a payroll tax increase, which most economists agree hurts middle class workers by being directly passed along via lower wages. She claims she can magically reduce tax evasion (through “super duper enforcement?”) to pay for part of the price of her plan. She also assumes passage of comprehensive immigration reform – a massive feat in and of itself – and the elimination of the Pentagon’s Overseas Contingency Operations fund will help pay for the rest.
The current estimated revenue of the entire federal government is $3.6 trillion – a fraction of the cost of Senator Warren’s plan. There is little doubt Senator Warren’s plan will not only hurt the middle class she’s claiming she can protect – it will upend the entire U.S. economy and blow a massive hole in the federal budget.
“Senator Elizabeth Warren’s Medicare for All plan doesn’t protect the middle class – it targets them with job losses, lower wages, and economic turbulence. Not only does the math in Senator Warren’s plan not add up, it spells disaster for all Americans.” -One Nation Communications Director Jack Pandol