Our Revolution: on Tax Reform

Bernie Sanders: Tax code is rigged to favor top 2% of billionaires

On December 10, 2010, I spoke on the floor of the Senate for eight and a half hours, to express outrage at the proposed two-year extension of the Bush tax breaks for the top 2 percent. I thought it was profoundly unfair, economically unwise, and politically wrong to provide hundreds of billions in additional tax breaks to the wealthiest people while the overwhelming majority were still suffering through the Great Recession.

The Bush tax breaks were in place for more than a decade, and the private sector lost nearly half a million jobs and the deficit exploded. On the other hand, in 1993, when President Bill Clinton increased taxes on the top 2 percent, more than 22 million jobs were created, and we had a $236 billion budget surplus.

Bernie Sanders: 0.1% tax on Wall Street speculation

By imposing a small financial transaction tax of just 0.5 percent on stock trades (that' just 50 cents for every $100 worth of stock), a 0.1 percent fee on bonds, and a 0.005 percent fee on derivatives, we would help tap the brakes on high-frequency speculative trading. And we would raise up to$300 billion a year, which I have proposed using to make public colleges an universities tuition-free. During the financial crisis, the middle class bailed out Wall Street. Now it's Wall Street's turn to help the middle class.

Bernie Sanders: 1980s: progressive property tax, plus Meals & Rooms tax

We addressed the inequities in the city's relationship to our large, tax-exempt institutions. We managed to get a substantial increase in payments in lieu of taxes from the University of Vermont and the Fletcher Allen Hospital for police & fire services. The hospital also began to play a more active role in the health care needs of people in our lower-income communities. We also developed a plan that brought in more revenue from our municipally owned airport in South Burlington.