Bernie Sanders Calls for Ending Tax Breaks for the Wealthy

“There is a war being waged against the middle class in America”

I caught a small part of Bernie Sanders’ speech to the senate the other night but was able to find it in its entirely on Youtube (I love the internet). In a statement made on Bernie Sanders’ Senate website,

“In my view, we should not extend these tax cuts for the very wealthiest people in this country – and I say that for several reasons.  First, at a time when this country has a $13.7 trillion national debt it would be a huge mistake, over a ten year period, to add another $700 billion to that debt by providing more tax breaks for the wealthiest people in this country.

“Further, this country already has the most unequal distribution of income and wealth of any major country.  While the middle class is in decline, the people on top are already doing extremely well.  For people earning more than $1 million a year, the continuation of the Bush-era tax cuts would amount to an average tax break of about $100,000 a year. With the top one percent already earning, in 2007, 23.5 percent of all income in this country – more than the bottom 50 percent makes, that would be morally unfair and economically unwise.  Lastly, if we provide these tax breaks to people who don’t need them and drive up the national debt, the demand to cut spending on programs of importance to the middle class and working families of our country would only accelerate. That means cuts in health care, education, nutrition, housing, LIHEAP, etc.”

The video below is well worth watching. Sanders compares the United States to the banana republics of the past, where the wealthy few control the whole country.