Aside from expanding the gov’t by 50% and costing $13.5 trillion in the first decade, the burden of Bernie Sanders’ plan to raise taxes to fund hand-outs would fall primarily on the very people he professes he wants to help, according to Reason‘s J.D. Tuccille:
“…researchers find that people who are more likely to succeed economically are also more likely to dodge taxes. And targeting them specifically increases the likelihood that they’ll hide their money from the authorities. No matter what he intends, Sanders’ proposed tax hike looks destined to fall most heavily on those who can least afford to pay the tab for his promised goodies.
Just by hiking taxes at all, Sanders and others who favor an expansive state face an uphill battle. “In almost all studies it has been found out, that the tax and social security contribution burdens are one of the main causes for the existence of the shadow economy,” writes Friedrich Schneider, a professor at Johannes Kepler University in Linz, Austria, and expert on tax evasion and off-books economics. By “shadow economy,” he refers to work and business conducted out of reach of tax collectors and regulators.”
