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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: 14831
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."
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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.
"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. (1 image)
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 26.
#12. To: cranko, A K A Stone (#0)
"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."
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.
#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.
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.
#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.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.
#22. To: Jameson (#17) (Edited)
Healthcare is a basic human right
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?
#24. To: cranko (#22)
How's that for a plan?
That's silly.
#26. To: Jameson (#24) (Edited)
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.
Replies to Comment # 26.
That's silly.
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.
End Trace Mode for Comment # 26.
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