Elizabeth Warren is currently emerging as the potential frontrunner as the Democrat’s 2020 candidate. With that position comes a lot more scrutiny about what she stands for. As of late, Warren has been making a lot of promises. That’s typical for any politician fighting hard in the race of their life. The problem is, she didn’t have any answers to how much her plans might cost.
Even those on the left have been taking shots at Warren over the past week. When asked about whether the middle class would have their taxes raised to pay for her plans, she refused to answer. Instead, she kept saying their overall costs would go down. She could never answer how much the plans cost. Well, now there’s an answer.
Yahoo Finance took a look at the books and found that Warren’s plan would double the current federal spending rate at $4.2 trillion per year on top of the $4.4 trillion we currently spend. That’s a lot of money! That means under Elizabeth Warren, spending would total $8.6 trillion. That amount all but guarantees her promises won’t be fulfilled. Already running a $23 trillion deficit, there’s no way to justify it.
To pay for her plan, of course Warren would have to increase taxes. But not just on the wealthy like she says. She’d have to increase the federal taxation rate by 124%. We’re already running a trillion dollar per year deficit, so she clearly has no answers without raising taxes significantly. By significantly, we mean it’s not possible to raise taxes high enough.
Warren’s Medicare-For-All
The biggest weapon in Warren’s arsenal is wanting a Medicare-for-all system. Her supporters think it’s a great idea. It would completely replace the private healthcare system we have right now. Yet, she has no clue how we will pay for it yet. Every time she’s asked, even by fellow Democrats, she changes the subject. It’s almost as if she’s afraid to admit she would have to increase taxes on the middle class.
The Urban Institute found that this type of single-payer system would cost us $3.4 trillion per year. That’s a massive chunk of change. This is nearly equivalent to all of our tax revenue in 2019. Healthcare costs might go down, but how do you feel about paying double the taxes? And that’s before any of Warren’s other ideas see the light of day.
It’s possible she could raise a few hundred billion per year by increasing taxes on the wealthy. Many businesses and corporations do what they can to push their tax liability down to zero. There are plenty of loopholes Warren says she’ll close. That might help a little bit, but so far, she has yet to provide answers on how this plan will be sustainable or covered in full.
