Amid pressure to disclose how he plans to pay for a slate of new government programs and policies, presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders released his plan to pay for his agenda.
At a CNN town hall on Monday, Sanders was asked how he would pay for all of his proposed government plans.
“I thought that question might come up,” Sanders said as he handed his plan to pay for his policies to moderator Chris Cuomo. He added, “This is a list, which will be on our website tonight, of how we pay for every program that we have developed.”
The move drew cheers from the audience.
Watch the video below:
Sanders went on to list a few examples of the programs, such as free college tuition or eliminating college debt, and said he would pay for those programs with a “rather modest tax of Wall Street speculation.”
Sanders’ campaign released his plan to pay for his major plans which include the $16.3 trillion Green New Deal, which he said he would pay for in part by “making the fossil fuel industry pay for their pollution, through litigation, fees, and taxes, and eliminating federal fossil fuel subsidies.”
Additionally, Sanders estimates that he would raise $2.3 trillion in tax revenue from an estimated 20 million new jobs that would be created as a result of the legislation.
To pay for his student debt plan, Sanders said he would implement a wealth tax on the “wealthiest 180,000 households in America who are in the top 0.1 percent.”
Sanders said his Universal Pre-K and “housing for all” plans would also be paid for with a wealth tax on the wealthiest families in America.
When it comes to his signature Medicare for All plan, Sanders’ website offers a “menu of financing options that would more than pay for” the legislation. Although during the town hall, Cuomo noted that some critics have claimed his plans would not cover the cost of Medicare for All.
But Sanders dismissed that, claiming that when the “administrative waste” and “profiteering of the drug companies” are eliminated, his plans would pay for the legislation.
Sanders’ plan list of how he would pay for his plans comes after he appeared to be unable to say what all his programs would cost during an interview on CBS News’ “60 Minutes.”
However, for some of the plans, the estimated tax revenues do not add up to the estimated cost of the program. Although Sanders often combines tax revenue with other savings, which he argues will result from his plan, to offset the cost.
