‘Robin Hood’ and other key takeaways from the Ted Cruz-Bernie Sanders tax debate – By Tom Benning (dallasnews.com) / Oct 19 2017
WASHINGTON — Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders agree that America’s tax code needs an overhaul. And that’s about it.
The political polar opposites, participating Wednesday in a CNN debate, highlighted the yawning policy divide that confronts conservative and liberal lawmakers of all stripes as they prepare to take on a monumental task that’s stymied Congress for decades.
With these two loquacious senators, however, the split was crystal clear.
Cruz, the Texas Republican, pitches the GOP revamp as a way to streamline the code and “lower taxes for each and every person.” Sanders, the Vermont Independent, sees instead a “massive tax break for the wealthy” that comes at the expense of low- and middle-income earners.
And even moments of apparent accord on Wednesday revealed just the size of the expanse.
Cruz got Sanders to admit that the GOP’s idea to double the standard deduction was a “good idea.” But just as Cruz cheered the common ground — a “miraculous night,” he joked — Sanders quickly objected to the elimination of the personal exemption and other related tax provisions.
“You have to look at it in a comprehensive way,” Sanders said.
The GOP’s tax plan focuses broadly on lowering rates for both businesses and individuals, rolling back most deductions and simplifying code. But many key details, such as how to pay for it all, remain up in the air. And that leaves plenty of room for debate.
So in truth, it was no surprise that the two senators mixed it up.
The duo participated in a similar event in February over health care, another major area of dispute. The tax plans that both Cruz and Sanders offered last year as presidential candidates had already revealed fundamentally different world views on how to reshape the U.S. tax system.
And the senators, while keeping it friendly, are known to be fierce debaters.
“Don’t interrupt me when I’m interrupting you,” Sanders joked at one point, eliciting laughter.
Here are three key moments from the discussion:
‘Robin Hood’
Who knew the hero of English folklore would get so much attention?
Sanders opened the literary salvo by calling the GOP’s tax plan a “Robin Hood proposal in reverse,” criticizing what he characterized as tax breaks for the wealthy combined with cuts to social programs like Medicaid. In other words, stealing from the poor to give to the rich.
GOP budget hawks lay low as party pushes tax plan that experts say will send deficit soaring
But Cruz decided to delve a bit deeper into the story.
“Bernie fundamentally misunderstood that story,” he said.
Robin Hood, Cruz said, was “robbing the tax collectors, who were collecting too much taxes from the working men and women and taking it for the rich.” The Texan said that the Democrats are actually “King John and the Sheriff of Nottingham” — also known as the villains.
The Koch brothers
Sanders returned time and again to Charles and David Koch, the wealthy Republican mega-donors.
He said that the Koch brothers and “Ted Cruz’s major donors” are backing the GOP’s tax revamp to protect “the interests of the wealthy and the powerful.” He asked the rhetorical question of whether that group is “staying up nights worrying about working families?”
“They are not,” he said.
Sanders sought to pin that on Cruz, who recently met with the Koch brothers. He cautioned the Texan that failure to back the powerful donors would mean “they’re going to cut your funding” — “you’re in trouble.” But Cruz dismissed the attack as Democratic scaremongering.
“Their latest villain is the Koch brothers,” Cruz said.
As for the idea that Republicans don’t care about the working class? Cruz called that “malarkey.”
‘Rare moment of candor’
To say that Cruz and Sanders have proposed different tax plans is an understatement.
Cruz, as a presidential candidate, pitched a plan that would upturn the tax code by creating one, low individual rate, increasing the deficit in the process. Sanders, meanwhile, would’ve raised taxes at all levels to pay for perks like free public college tuition and universal health care.
So when the Vermont senator rehashed his presidential platform, Cruz seized on the moment.
“Your taxes are going up,” he said, explaining that Sanders wants to “tax everyone — tax them like crazy.”
“That’s a rare moment of candor in Washington,” Cruz added.
And Sanders didn’t duck.
He admitted: “Yeah, you’re raising taxes.” And yeah, “everybody will pay some more.” But Sanders said those increases, which would be greater for the wealthy, would come with “free health care” and other government programs that he argued would help middle-class Americans much more.
“We only look at taxes,” he said. “We don’t look at the other expenses in life.”
PB/TK – No one truly knows how the GOP tax plan is going to help the individual, corporations and the economy, it’s all speculation. Cutting taxes for the individual in hopes they’ll spend more. Cutting taxes for the corporations in hopes they’ll reinvest, spend more, give larger pay increases and higher more people (non-temporary job creation and citizens, not HB visa holders).
