Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) today released her “Medicare for All” healthcare plan.
This “Kamalacare” proposal will impose a number of devastating tax hikes on the American people:
- 7.5 percent payroll tax increase on employers, which would slash wages for middle class workers as employers pass the additional costs down to their employees.
- 4 percent payroll tax increase on households making more than $100,000 per year (this will directly hit 29.2 percent of American households).
- 52 percent top tax bracket for ordinary income and capital gains income. This would give America the highest income tax rate in the world.
- 65 percent Death Tax rate.
- 1 percent “wealth tax.”
- 0.2 percent tax on stock trades
- 0.1 percent tax on bond trades
- .002 percent tax on derivative transactions
Note, Harris uses dishonest terminology to hide the fact that she is raising the payroll tax: she uses the term “premium” instead of “payroll tax.”
There is one minor difference between the Harris and Bernie Sanders “Medicare for All” proposals. While Sanders imposes a new 4 percent payroll tax on Americans making more than $29,000, Harris imposes the tax on Americans making more than $100,000. This tax hike would directly hit the 29.2 percent of households that make over $100,000 a year.
The definition of middle class seems to be getting smaller and smaller for Democrats. During the fiscal cliff negotiations in 2012, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer did not want to raise taxes on anyone making less than $1 million a year. Former President Obama defined “middle class” as making less than $250,000 a year.
To make up the funding gap between her $100,000 threshold and Sanders’s $29,000 threshold, Harris would impose a slew of financial transaction taxes on American businesses. These new taxes includea 0.2 percent tax on stock trades, a 0.1 percent tax on bond trades, and a .002 percent tax on derivative transactions.
These new FTTs would especially impact 401(k)s, pensions, and index funds. Returns on pension funds and other savings would be lower because of the increased costs of buying and selling and the reduction in value of shares. On a macroeconomic level they would increase the cost of capital and reduce productivity, harming jobs and wages all across the country.
The Harris tax hikes don’t stop there. Harris has repeatedly promised that she will repeal the entire Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. At a recent campaign stop, Harris said she would repeal the TCJA four times in three minutes. If Harris repealed the tax cuts, the following would happen:
- A family of four earning the median income of $73,000 would see a $2,000 tax increase.
- A single parent (with one child) making $41,000 would see a $1,300 tax increase.
- Millions of low and middle income households would be stuck paying the Obamacare individual mandate tax.
- Utility bills would go up in all 50 states as a direct result of the corporate income tax increase.
- Small employers will face a tax increase due to the repeal of the 20% deduction for small business income.
- The USA would have the highest corporate income tax rate in the developed world.
- Taxes would rise in every state and every congressional district.
- The Death Tax would ensnare more families and businesses.
- The AMT would snap back to hit millions of households.
- Millions of households would see their child tax credit cut in half.
- Millions of households would see their standard deduction cut in half, adding to their tax complexity as they are forced to itemize their deductions and deal with the shoebox full of receipts on top of the refrigerator.
In sum, Harris would increase taxes on millions of Americans, cause millions of Americans to lose their current healthcare plans, and harm economic growth. This plan is an unserious attempt to pander to the Democrat party’s far-left base.