On Bernie Sanders’s Tax Plan vs. France’s Failed 75% Income Tax Bracket

A brief rebuttal to Jon Hartley’s article in Forbes about France’s failed 75% income tax bracket for income above $1 million Euros per year, in respect to Bernie Sanders’s proposed tax brackets and 4% Medicare for All income tax.

Well, we’re talking about 56% as the top marginal rate under Sanders’s plan at a much higher income ($20 million and above married), plus state income tax if any… California’s top bracket is 12.3% so that’s 68.3% combined. Other states have lower or no state income tax like Florida. The author of that Forbes piece is “a Republican economic-policy adviser” who writes for National Review. He even cites experts who say the correct tax rate is 50–65% to avoid capital flight in Europe, which is much higher than present U.S. top rates, and don’t forget that the wealthy tend to have a lot of income from capital gains that they can time disbursement of at their discretion.

Of course there are some prominent New Yorkers moving to Florida purportedly to escape taxes, but these are the people whose businesses are typically mobile and allow that. California is known for high taxes yet so many wealthy individuals and corporations are still based there. Why?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *