Sanders gives Senate Finance $1.8 trillion tax increase proposal

Liberal Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Friday gave the Senate Finance Committee proposals to raise taxes by $1.8 trillion. 

The plan includes a tax on carbon emissions and a Wall Street transaction tax.

 Republican leaders say they want any tax reform bill marked up this fall to raise no new revenue.  The Sanders proposal represents the other end of the spectrum.

{mosads}Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and ranking member Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) had asked for member input by Friday and had offered to keep any suggestions secret for 50 years.

Sanders declined the offer of secrecy.

 “Given the fact that my suggestions represent the interests of the middle class of this country and not powerful corporate special interests, I have no problem with making them public,” he said.

Sanders notes that he was instrumental in helping to craft the 2014 Senate budget, which raised $975 billion over 10 years. 

“It was a good start. I would go further,” he said. 

The Wall Street transaction tax would be imposed at a 0.3 percent rate and would raise $325 billion, Sanders said. 

In addition to a carbon tax, Sanders proposes ending tax breaks for oil companies while extending breaks for renewable energy projects. 

He also proposes ending the deferral of tax obligations on foreign income for U.S. companies and taxing capital gains at the level of ordinary income for the wealthiest 2 percent of earners.

In a separate letter, Sanders outlines how to address the IRS scandal over the scrutinizing of Tea Party organizations. Sanders proposes banning tax-exempt organizations, classified as 501(c)4, 501(c)5 and 501(c)6 from political activity.