A bipartisan budget watchdog released a report Monday detailing options for how the federal government could pay for “Medicare-for-all,” the health care plan popular with 2020 Democratic presidential contenders — and its findings show there would be no way to fund the expanded health program by simply raising taxes on the rich.
The report, published by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, examines a variety of potential ways to raise the estimated $30 trillion over 10 years necessary to fund “Medicare-for-all,” including a 32 percent payroll tax, a 25 percent income surtax and a 42 percent value-added tax. These methods could all raise $30 trillion, the report says, but there is no way for the federal government to bring in that much money simply by taxing rich people.
“There is not enough annual income available among higher earners to finance the full cost of ‘Medicare-for-All,'” it says. “On a static basis, even increasing the top two income tax rates (applying to individuals making over $204,000 per year and couples making over $408,000 per year) to 100 percent would not raise $30 trillion over a decade.”
An accompanying chart lists the tax-the-rich funding option as “IMPOSSIBLE.”
How you finance #MedicareForAll matters A LOT.
For example, many option could lift marginal rates to or above revenue-maximizing levels, leaving little tax capacity to fund much of anything else. https://t.co/eIP40nc1N8
cc/ @BudgetHawks pic.twitter.com/dkPJxZqIUO
— Marc Goldwein (@MarcGoldwein) October 28, 2019
The role of middle-class taxes in funding “Medicare-for-all” has become a point of contention in the Democratic primary, and it showed at the most recent debate in Ohio. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren tiptoed around questions from the moderators about whether or not middle-class taxes would increase under her “Medicare-for-all” health care plan. Warren chose to focus on net costs instead. – READ MORE