A Quick Look at the Democratic Tax Plans

Gabriel Zucman has analyzed the tax implications of the plans set forth by three of the Democratic candidates and has come up with this:

No surprises here: Warren and Sanders want to soak the rich but Biden doesn’t. Still, it’s interesting to see the details.

This reminds me that I’m still sort of surprised that no one has proposed a universal health care plan that’s heavily funded by a head tax on corporations. This would get rid of all the questions about where the funding would come from and would end up costing everyone about the same as they pay now. There would obviously be some additional details to work out, and you can imagine them being whatever you prefer.

This would obviously not be the best funding mechanism from a pure policy perspective, but it sure seems like it might be the best from a pragmatic political perspective.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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