Maya MacGuineas, the president of independent and bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, warned on “Fox and Friends” Tuesday morning that Bernie Sanders’ proposed policies could cost $20,000 per taxpayer.
“If you look at healthcare, free tuition, family leave, child care – those proposals will all have a price tag of over $20,000 per taxpayer,” MacGuineas said.
“I don't know whether they plan to finance all of that or add that to the very large national debt, but the costs are certainly high. I know trillion is kind of hard to get your arms around. But when you bring it down per taxpayer, we are talking more than $20,000 increase in taxes.”
“I don't know whether they plan to finance all of that or add that to the very large national debt, but the costs are certainly high. I know trillion is kind of hard to get your arms around. But when you bring it down per taxpayer, we are talking more than $20,000 increase in taxes.”
Sanders, the leading 2020 candidate in the crowded Democratic field, sat down at a Fox News town hall in Bethlehem, Pa., on Monday evening to make a pitch for his ambitions transformation of the economy, with universal healthcare at its core.
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But MacGuineas cautioned that Sanders hasn’t yet come up with a way to fully fund the proposals and will only significantly increase the deficit and the expense of the taxpayer.
“None of the things he has been talking about are free, it does worry me when we put these in the context of free healthcare, free college tuition. It's really important that we put them in the broader budget context of how much would this cost and do we think it's worth it?” MacGuineas said.
“Because just to anchor the kind of conversation he is starting, we do need to keep in mind that the national debt of the country right now is at near record levels.
“And then we are talking about adding a lot of new spending on top of it. Medicare for all would be one of the biggest new programs that people have ever introduced into the political debate,” she added.
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MacGuineas said that her organization was “incredibly concerned” after analyzing Sanders’ 2016 proposals as they found “the huge gap between the very, very expensive price tag and the kind of pay-fors that he had put out there.” The research suggested Sanders’ 2016 plan was only 45% paid for.
Not much has changed with his 2020 campaign, MacGuineas said, though his current revealed proposals are more detailed and offer a better understanding of how Sanders hopes to fund the programs.
“Still, it's going to fall short and the numbers aren't detailed enough to know. My guess is we are still talking about a 10 trillion-dollar hole each after the pay-ffors put there.”
“He doesn't have a plan to pay for Medicare for all yet, but he has introduced option many of which include broad-based tax increases, a lot of tax increases on the wealthy, getting rid of some tax breaks,” she said.
“Still, it's going to fall short and the numbers aren't detailed enough to know. My guess is we are still talking about a 10 trillion-dollar hole.”
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