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Title: Donald Trump once proposed a more left-wing tax policy than Bernie Sanders
Source:
Vox
URL Source: http://www.vox.com/2015/3/18/8244115/donald-trump-wealth-tax
Published: Jul 7, 2015
Author: Dylan Matthews
Post Date: 2015-07-07 09:48:19 by cranko
Keywords: None
Views: 13189
Comments: 39
In 1999 and 2000, he considered a bid for the nomination of Ross Perot's Reform Party, which was at the height of its influence after Jesse Ventura won the Minnesota governorship in 1998 as a Reform candidate. Trump's big idea was a one-time wealth tax of 14.25 percent on all individuals and trusts with a net worth in excess of $10 million. The proceeds would be used to wipe out the national debt, with the savings in interest payments going to shore up Social Security and pay for middle-class tax cuts. This is a totally insane idea for a whole variety of reasons, many of which Bruce Bartlett ran through in the Wall Street Journal at the time. The tax wouldn't raise nearly as much as Trump thought it would, it'd encourage massive evasion, and it'd force huge sell-offs of stock and other assets, leading to, as Bartlett writes, the "liquidation of thousands of businesses." "We must have universal healthcare," wrote Trump. "I'm a conservative on most issues but a liberal on this one. We should not hear so many stories of families ruined by healthcare expenses." The goal of health care reform, wrote Trump, should be a system that looks a lot like Canada. "Doctors might be paid less than they are now, as is the case in Canada, but they would be able to treat more patients because of the reduction in their paperwork," he writes. /cdn0
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The wealth tax isn't the only left-wing proposal Trump has flirted with over the years, either. He also used to be a fan of Canadian-style single-payer health care.
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#12. To: cranko, A K A Stone (#0)
That is old news and no longer the case. Dredging up old news from the past and regurgitating it without showing his current position….is extremely weak. That is obviously all they have....great! Trump wrote 15 years ago that he supported universal healthcare. Times change, events change….smart people adjust and change for the better with them. Trump has seen the failure of Obamacare and he thinks Obamacare is “a big, fat, horrible lie” and “a total catastrophe,” which he’s promised “is going to be a disaster.” Trump has said that the health care law should be repealed and replaced but has ended his past talk of a universal, single-payer health care system.
Well, he should return to it. We should have the health care system they have in France: universal Medicare. Single payer INSURANCE, with a rational legal system that keeps malpractice rates low, and with free public education for doctors so they don't come out of medical school a half-million dollars in debt and have to take on golden handcuffs and overcharge. Educate the doctors, leave them independent, and let them operate in a sane legal and insurance environment. Patients pay for their care, and send the receipt to the government for reimbursement of 80% of it. The poor get part or all of the 20% gap reimbursed also. The doctors don't deal with billing. It's a simple, sane system that provides health care on a par with America at about 60% of the cost, and that covers everybody in the country. THAT is the system we should have. So, who will hate it?: Medical schools: they lose cash cows. Malpractice lawyers: they lose a lot of business. Health insurance companies: they lose a huge cash cow. Who will love it?: Patients. Doctors. The Congressional Budget Office.
THAT is the system we should have. 10/10 agree Healthcare is a basic human right, and should be recognized as such. So, who will hate it?: Everyone who steps between the Doc & the Patient to take a profit.
The management of preventable, chronic diseases is the real driver of healthcare costs in the U.S. Here is my plan to provide the McDonald eating, Marlboro smoking, beer guzzling lard asses with their "right" to healthcare: During the month of April everyone in the country will have to show up at a government office and weigh in. The government will severely tax you for every pound you are overweight. The money will be put in a chronic disease fund to manage people's diabetes, heart conditions and other chronic diseases. If you don't show up or don't pay, the government will lock you in prison and make you perform hard labor until you shed your fat. How's that for a plan to provide you with your "right" to healthcare?
That's silly.
Why? It gets right to the heart of the issue -- people make poor lifestyle choices which makes them unhealthy and drives up healthcare costs. Instead of forcing me to pay for the tubalards' poor choices, let's force them to pay for those choices themselves. The money will go into a big pool to manage the chronic diseases of people who overeat, smoke, drink, and won't exercise.
Why? If you don't show up or don't pay, the government will lock you in prison and make you perform hard labor until you shed your fat. Ridiculous.
Ridiculous.If you don't show up or don't pay, the government will lock you in prison and make you perform hard labor until you shed your fat. Ridiculous. You want rights? Then you have to have responsibilities. You don't have a right to lay on the couch, stuffing your face with fast food and then make me pay for your high blood pressure medicine. I don't accept that.
Yeah, it's all about you. Pretending that you'd favor "locking someone up" is nonsense. Here's an Idea (that you'll hate) how about taxing the "bad decision makers" at the source.... Fast food tax, alcohol tax, tobacco tax, XXL clothing tax, excessive hours of TV watching tax, excessive internet usage tax.....on and on.. There will always be those who are too weak/ignorant to compromise and make some changes for the better.
#34. To: Jameson (#33)
(Edited)
Excessive taxes on products will just create black markets for those products. It's already happening with tobacco. You have to tax outcomes, like obesity if you want to solve the problem and lower healthcare costs. We throw people who use drugs in jail. Drug usage doesn't have anywhere near the impact on healthcare costs as obese people do. Oregon is started to tax people for the miles they drive in their cars. It's time to start taxing poundage.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest"We must have universal healthcare," wrote Trump. "I'm a conservative on most issues but a liberal on this one. We should not hear so many stories of families ruined by healthcare expenses."
#15. To: Gatlin (#12)
Trump has said that the health care law should be repealed and replaced but has ended his past talk of a universal, single-payer health care system.
#17. To: Vicomte13 (#15)
It's a simple, sane system that provides health care on a par with America at about 60% of the cost, and that covers everybody in the country.
#22. To: Jameson (#17)
(Edited)
Healthcare is a basic human right
#24. To: cranko (#22)
How's that for a plan?
#26. To: Jameson (#24)
(Edited)
That's silly.
#29. To: cranko (#26)
That's silly.
#31. To: Jameson (#29)
If you don't show up or don't pay, the government will lock you in prison and make you perform hard labor until you shed your fat.
#33. To: cranko (#31)
I don't accept that.
Replies to Comment # 33. Fast food tax, alcohol tax, tobacco tax, XXL clothing tax, excessive hours of TV watching tax, excessive internet usage tax.....on and on.
End Trace Mode for Comment # 33.
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