Re: Campaign 2016 - Primary season! Duck (questions) season!
You take this line with a lot of posters, so let me give some advice. Speaking as someone who has been (mistakenly, of course) called arrogant, you aren't a prosecutor and while you may think you're winning a rhetorical point when you play this card you're really only sounding like a dick. So, since you're not a dick, you should probably learn to watch your tone so as not to give a false impression.
Honey > vinegar. It works.
Kep, as much as I appreciate your advice, I'm not trying to win a rhetorical argument. I'm trying to make Sanders and his supporters understand what he's put on paper thus far as a proposal. Scoobs is a good guy, but you can't walk into an election with an "oh, don't worry about the numbers not adding up" attitude and expect the Republicans to not eviscerate him over it and have that resonate with the non-Democracy Now crowd.
What you've posted is good, and no offense it has taken you a little while it seems to take a look at what exactly Sanders is proposing tax wise, but it didn't address the point raised that he's eliminating payroll taxes in a separate proposal. I've yet to see that proposal, so me asking for it if it keeps getting brought up doesn't make me a dick (not that I'm not but asking people to show me where this plan they keep referring to is doesn't make me a jerk).
But, onto what you've posted, and I agree we can disregard dynamic impacts or their GDP estimates and stick to the concrete stuff...
Details of the Plan
Individual Income Tax Changes
•Adds four new income tax brackets for high-income households, with rates of 37 percent, 43 percent, 48 percent, and 52 percent.
Sounds good.
•Taxes capital gains and dividends at ordinary income rates for households with income over $250,000.
Yup
•Creates a new 2.2 percent “income-based [health care] premium paid by households.” This is equivalent to increasing all tax bracket rates by 2.2 percentage points, and would raise the top marginal income tax rate to 54.2 percent.
Don't get it. Why are we raising taxes on the people in the 10% bracket?
Payroll Tax Changes
•Creates a new 6.2 percent employer-side payroll tax on all wages and salaries. This is referred to by the campaign as an “income-based health care premium paid by employers.”
Disaster. Someone making 18K a year just got whacked with another 6.2% out of their income. Maybe, maybe they save on health care costs but maybe not. They're definitely losing the money, with a vague possibility of lower costs.
•Creates a 0.2 percent employer-side payroll tax and 0.2 percent employee-side payroll tax, to fund a new family and medical leave trust fund.
Don't get this either. More money out of the paychecks of the working poor.
•Applies the Social Security payroll tax to earnings over $250,000, a threshold which is not indexed for wage inflation.
Good proposal provided he plows it back into the program which I have every reason to believe he will.
So to sum up, I'm on board with many of his proposals. But some major ones are horrific. He's GOT to lose that payroll tax increase for everybody or he's toast.