DOES IT ADD UP?

Warren Unveils Plan to Pay for Medicare for All Without Hiking Taxes on Middle Class

“We don’t need to raise taxes on the middle class by one penny to finance Medicare for All,” Warren stated in a blog post.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) would rely on increased taxes for billionaires and corporations to pay for Medicare for All, according to a plan she unveiled Friday. The Wall Street Journal reports that the tax hikes would cover the majority of the $20.5 trillion in new spending over a decade, and would protect lower-income Americans from paying more. “We don’t need to raise taxes on the middle class by one penny to finance Medicare for All,” Warren wrote in a blog post. In total, Warren proposed to impose almost $9 trillion in new taxes on U.S. employers over 10 years—which reportedly lines up with the health premiums that they would no longer need to pay for under Medicare for All. The plans also projects to raise $2 trillion through a re-vamped capital-gains tax, $1 trillion through a wealth tax on billionaires, $1 trillion by cutting military spending and increases in tax receipts through legal immigration legislation, and $2.3 trillion on tougher tax law enforcement. Warren’s plan also would raise corporate income taxes to 35 percent, and would require American multinational companies to pay that rate on their total global income.