Sen. Bernie Sanders said Monday he would significantly raise taxes on wealthy people and companies to pay for his ambitious policy agenda, which includes giving everyone access to Medicare and creating tuition-free universities all across the country.
“Healthcare, yeah, is a right, making sure that our kids can get a higher education is a right, that we rebuild our crumbling infrastructure is a basic need,” Sanders said on CNN. “That’s going to cost money.”
“But at a time when the people on top have so much while the middle class shrinks and we have so many people living in poverty, if your question is am I going to demand that the wealthy and large corporations start paying their fair share of taxes, damn right I will,” he said.
Sanders, an independent senator who is vying for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 2020 just like he did in 2016, used Amazon as an example. The e-commerce giant reportedly will not pay any federal income on the $11.2 billion in profits it made last year.
“People say, where are you going to get the money? Where are you going to get the money?” the 77-year-old said. “That’s where we’re going to begin getting the money.”
Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, was specifically asked how he would fund his plan to make public colleges and universities tuition free.
“We’re going to pay for that by a tax on Wall Street speculation,” he said.
[Also read: Bernie Sanders: ‘We’ll bring a lie detector’ to debates with Trump]
Sanders, who is among the frontrunners in a crowded Democratic field, was also grilled on the sexual harassment and inequality that plagued his 2016 campaign against Hillary Clinton. He met with some of the complainants in January and said Monday he had taken steps to avoid creating a similarly toxic work environment in 2020, including by putting in place new training programs and reporting procedures.
He added learning about the experiences of some of his staffers “was very painful.”
“And it will not happen again,” he said.
In response to another question, Sanders indicated he should still be seen as a good candidate for younger, progressive Democrats who are women and minorities. He said he worked hard in the last campaign to help ensure a more diverse group of Democratic lawmakers.
“I am enormously proud of the fact that we have the most diverse, progressive freshman class in the history of the United States congress. And you know what I did in 2016 and in 2018? I ran all over this country to try to make that happen,” Sanders said.
In the week since he announced his White House bid, Sanders has raised $10 million for his campaign for the presidency.
