Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who helps increasing Social Safety and Medicare and elevating taxes on the rich, will get a seat on the Senate’s highly effective Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over these huge points.
Sanders helps growing Social Safety advantages for current recipients by $2,400 a yr and growing cost-of-living changes to maintain up with rising prices.
He has proposed paying for this growth of advantages by making use of payroll taxes on all earnings greater than $250,000. Below present legislation, the Social Safety payroll tax is capped at $168,600.
Sanders has additionally known as for increasing Medicare with improved and complete advantages, protecting dental, listening to and imaginative and prescient care and phasing out insurance coverage premiums, deductibles and co-payments.
Sanders has steered requiring workers and employers to pay income-based premiums and proposed elevating taxes on the rich to pay for expanded well being care.
He proposed elevating the highest marginal tax charge on rich people to 54 p.c throughout his 2016 marketing campaign for president.
He has supported a 77 p.c property tax charge on inheritances of greater than $1 billion.
In 2021, he known as for setting the company tax charge at 35 p.c and doubling the minimal tax charge on intangible property reminiscent of patents, emblems and copyrights.
Sanders is one in every of 5 new Democratic additions to the Finance Committee, together with Sens. Tina Smith (Minn.), Ben Ray Luján (N.M.), Raphael Warnock (Ga.) and Peter Welch (Vt.).
The senior senator from Vermont joins Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), one other outspoken progressive voice, on the tax-writing committee.
A number of Democratic seats opened up on the panel after Sen. Debbie Stabenow (Mich.), Tom Carper (Del.) and Ben Cardin (Md.) retired and Sens. Bob Casey (Pa.) and Sherrod Brown (Ohio) misplaced their reelection bids.
The committee has main jurisdiction over Social Safety, Medicare, commerce and tax coverage.
