Welcome to what everyone already knew: at some point, you run out of other people’s money.
A recent report by a bipartisan watchdog group said that it would be “impossible” to fund the much-discussed $30-trillion “Medicare-for-all” plan solely by taxing the rich, despite claims from Democratic politicians.
The determination was reached by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan budget group based out of Washington, D.C. The group said that the rich simply do not earn enough money to fund the plan, even if the richest earners in America were taxed at a 100 percent rate over the next decade.
The group highlighted several other approaches the federal government might take to fund the gargantuan program, including a 32 percent payroll tax and a 42 percent value-added tax.
If the government wants to avoid raising taxes, the group said, it would need to cut non-health-related federal spending by 80 percent.