Sanders: Tax rate on wealthiest ‘will be a damned lot higher’

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Sunday defended his tax and spending proposals, saying the tax rate the wealthiest Americans pay should be ”a damned lot higher than it is right now.”

{mosads}“What we have seen, George, in the last 30 years, as most of Americans know, is a massive redistribution of wealth,” the Democratic presidential candidate said. “Unfortunately, it’s gone in the wrong direction, it’s gone from the middle class and working families to Donald Trump and his friends, the top one-tenth of 1 percent.

“And, yes, let me be very clear, if we are going to make public colleges and universities to tuition-free, as I believe we have to do in the 21st century, yes, we are going to have a tax on Wall Street speculation.

“Yes, we are going to ask Trump and his billionaire friends to pay more in taxes,” Sanders added.

“We’ll come up with that rate. But it will be a damned lot higher than it is right now.”

Trump, the GOP front-runner, last week called Sanders a socialist/communist, telling a crowd in Richmond, Va., that Sanders would tax them at 90 percent.

“He’s going to take everything,” Trump added.

“Well, if I had to respond to every absurd thing that Donald Trump said, I would spend my whole life doing it,” Sanders said on ABC.

“We’re going to end the loophole that allows large corporations to stash their money in the Cayman Islands and in some cases, avoid paying all federal income taxes. We are going to raise the estate tax so that Trump and his billionaire friends will — and their families — will end up paying more in taxes,” Sanders said.

“Trillions of dollars have flowed from the middle class to the top one-tenth of 1 percent. And we have got to address the fact that the middle class of this country is disappearing. They need help. We have massive wealth and income inequality. The wealthy are going to have to pay more.”

When asked if there would be no tax hikes below the top 1 percent, Sanders replied: “I didn’t say that.

“I think if you’re looking about guaranteeing paid family and medical leave, which virtually every other major country has, so that when a mom gives birth, she doesn’t have to go back to work in two weeks, or there’s an illness in a family, dad or mom can stay home with the kids. That will require a small increase in the payroll tax.”