Bernie Sanders Claims Americans 'Will Be Delighted to Pay More in Taxes' but Refuses to Himself

Matt Margolis | 9:35 AM on June 13, 2019

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks during the CNN Democratic Presidential Primary Debate with Hillary Clinton at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on Thursday, April 14, 2016, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

On Wednesday, Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders spoke with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, demonstrating not only how out of touch he is with what Americans want, but also his blatant hypocrisy.

When asked by Cooper if enough Americans know what socialism looks like, Bernie Sanders went into a laundry list of socialist talking points about what other countries have that we don’t that makes them so much better. Cooper actually pressed him on this point, noting that “the taxes in many of those countries are much higher than they are—individual and personal tax are—much higher than they are in the United States.”

“Yeah but I suspect people in this country would be delighted to pay more in taxes, if they had comprehensive healthcare as a human right!” Bernie replied.

Oh really, Bernie?

It’s bad enough that Bernie pretends to believe Americans want to pay more in taxes, but it’s even worse that he makes this claim when he personally chooses not to pay more in taxes. When he released his 2014 tax returns during the 2016 presidential elections, he paid an effective tax rate of 13.5 percent on a joint income of $205,271, which is lower than the average income tax rate for that income.

Bernie Sanders has also been called out for accepting tax breaks that he campaigns against, and, once he became a millionaire after writing his bestselling book, not voluntarily paying the tax rate he says millionaires should pay. Bernie Sanders is the epitome of why socialism doesn’t work. He knows that as part of the elite he won’t have to live under the same rules as non-one-percenters will in a socialist system. Socialism for thee, not for me.

If Bernie Sanders’ theory that Americans would be delighted to pay more in taxes is correct, then why isn’t he voluntarily paying more in taxes? He should be leading by example, but he doesn’t.

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Matt Margolis is the author of The Scandalous Presidency of Barack Obama and the bestselling The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama. His new book, Trumping Obama: How President Trump Saved Us From Barack Obama’s Legacy, will be published in July 2019. You can follow Matt on Twitter @MattMargolis