I am probably the most skeptical person in the world about Bernie Sanders' progressive revolution. Mainly because I simply do not think millennial voters would stick by him if he does get elected and his support would vaporize immediately.
I am even more skeptical after looking at his tax plan. According to this plan, I would be paying almost $5k more a year in taxes than I currently do - more than twice what I pay in health insurance premiums. My staff would pay as much as 11 percent more in taxes, almost twice what they pay for insurance if they’re on a bronze plan, which 5 of 8 of them are on now. The other three are under 26 and are on their parents plan, so for them this tax hike would hit them really hard.
I have employees who come to me saying they’re LOSING money working at my company and I can’t authorize upper management into giving them raises. This tax hike would absolutely crush them.
If you want to sell a massive tax increase on the American people. Fine. I think we all recognize the need for more taxes. But don't tell young people struggling to survive that you're going to make their lives better on the expense of the 1 percent, then raise their taxes by double digits and make their lives worse. People haven’t gotten a raise in decades, Sanders points that out, but how does he think people will react when their disposable income drops because of his tax plan?
I am tamed by the fact that I know President Sanders' tax plan will never become law, but still. You're selling an entire generation a bill of goods. That's a terrible idea if you're trying to start a revolution. This would push millennials straight into the arms of the Republican Party, or at the very least make them fiscal conservatives.
Sanders should level with us, and tell us that in order to get the country fiscally sound, and allow for all the things we love, like good schools, a strong military and functioning infrastructure, we’re all going to have pay more in taxes: the rich more than the poor, but we all have to.
Of course that isn’t going to inspire millennials to turn out.
On the other hand, I can’t believe Hillary’s campaign hasn’t made this an issue with millennials. But I guess her campaign doesn’t see this as an issue to get them to vote for her, just get them to go back to being politically apathetic, and that doesn’t help her in November.