College Students Praise Bernie Sanders’ Tax Plan, Except For One Detail [Video]
George Washington University students seemed very supportive of the tax plan proposed by independent U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist who ran for president in 2016 against Hillary Clinton in the primaries. But the students at the Washington, D.C.-based institution were left almost speechless when the Campus Reform interviewer provided one additional detail.
The students specifically praised the idea of increasing the child tax credit, eliminating the estate or “death” tax, and lowering the tax rate on small business. They were then informed in the video embedded below that President Trump is advocating those ideas rather than Bernie Sanders. The students then seemed to acknowledge their preconceived notions about any initiatives attached to the Trump name. Because of that, one of the students implies that it’s important to obtain news from a variety of sources.
On Thursday night, the U.S. Senate by a 51-49 vote approved a budget that makes it more likely that tax reform will be enacted this year, which will include what the president claims will be the biggest tax cut in history. Although all the details haven’t been fleshed out pending ongoing negotiations among lawmakers, and tax reform is very complicated given the competing constituencies, the plan supposedly will simplify the whole process of filing tax returns for many Americans.
There will be either just three or four tax brackets if the plan goes through, with a doubling of the standard deduction for middle-income families, which will benefit about 70 percent of taxpayers who don’t itemize, according to Real Clear Politics. Trump also wants to eliminate the corporate tax rate to encourage business expansion here and repatriation of funds back to the U.S. from overseas. The House is expected to vote next week on the version of the federal budget that passed the Senate. Both chambers must pass the identical bill for it to be finalized and sent to the president’s desk.
The ol' bait and switch shows students liked @realDonaldTrump's tax plan: https://t.co/GJlpMG5yBA #education
— Campus Reform (@campusreform) October 21, 2017
Critics have argued that the plan is too favorable to the 1 percent. Bernie Sanders described the budget that passed (and paves the way for tax cuts) as “extremely cruel,” the New York Times reported, while Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called it “nasty and backwards.”
The tax reform plan, when finalized, could also prove controversial for getting rid of many tax deductions. “To pay for rate cuts, the plan would eliminate deductions worth trillions of dollars, such as for taxes paid to state and local governments, though it would not do away with two of the biggest, for charitable giving and mortgage interest,” NBC News explained.
The Budget passed late last night, 51 to 49. We got ZERO Democrat votes with only Rand Paul (he will vote for Tax Cuts) voting against…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 20, 2017
….This now allows for the passage of large scale Tax Cuts (and Reform), which will be the biggest in the history of our country!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 20, 2017
It’s not clear how many interviews were conducted to compile the 3-1/3 minute clip, but watch the Campus Reform video filmed at George Washington University about the “Bernie Sanders” tax plan and draw your own conclusions.
[Featured Image by Kay Nietfeld/dpa/AP Images]
