{"id":1059,"date":"2026-03-16T12:42:06","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T12:42:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/?p=1059"},"modified":"2026-03-16T12:42:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T12:42:06","slug":"the-democrats-new-desperate-plan-to-get-votes-by-the-two-dumbest-politicians-in-the-usa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/the-democrats-new-desperate-plan-to-get-votes-by-the-two-dumbest-politicians-in-the-usa\/","title":{"rendered":"THE DEMOCRAT&#8217;S NEW DESPERATE PLAN TO GET VOTES BY THE TWO DUMBEST POLITICIANS IN THE USA"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"article-image-slot image-slot-placeholder\" data-is-first=\"true\" data-doc-id=\"cms\/api\/amp\/image\/AA1YISkX\">\n<div class=\"article-image-slot\">\n<div class=\"article-image-container polished\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;OpenModal&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;b&quot;:8,&quot;c.i&quot;:&quot;AA1YJcL8&quot;,&quot;c.l&quot;:false,&quot;c.t&quot;:13,&quot;c.v&quot;:&quot;news&quot;,&quot;c.c&quot;:&quot;newspolitics&quot;,&quot;c.b&quot;:&quot;Vox.com&quot;,&quot;c.bi&quot;:&quot;AA3k4WY&quot;,&quot;c.tv&quot;:&quot;finance&quot;,&quot;c.tc&quot;:&quot;general&quot;,&quot;c.hl&quot;:&quot;The Democrats are about to make a trillion-dollar mistake&quot;}\" data-test-id=\"AA1YISkX\">\n<div><\/div>\n<p><button class=\"article-image-height-wrapper expandable article-image-height-wrapper-new\" data-customhandled=\"true\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;OpenModalButton&quot;,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.i&quot;:&quot;AA1YJcL8&quot;,&quot;c.l&quot;:false,&quot;c.t&quot;:13,&quot;c.v&quot;:&quot;news&quot;,&quot;c.c&quot;:&quot;newspolitics&quot;,&quot;c.b&quot;:&quot;Vox.com&quot;,&quot;c.bi&quot;:&quot;AA3k4WY&quot;,&quot;c.tv&quot;:&quot;finance&quot;,&quot;c.tc&quot;:&quot;general&quot;,&quot;c.hl&quot;:&quot;The Democrats are about to make a trillion-dollar mistake&quot;}\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"article-image article-image-ux-impr article-image-new expandable\" title=\"Cory Booker surrounded by reporters. \" src=\"https:\/\/img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net\/tenant\/amp\/entityid\/AA1YISkX.img?w=534&amp;h=356&amp;m=6&amp;x=1822&amp;y=271&amp;s=2024&amp;d=916\" alt=\"Cory Booker surrounded by reporters. \" \/><\/button><\/p>\n<div class=\"image-caption-container image-caption-container-ux-impr articlewc-image-caption-container\"><span class=\"image-caption\">Cory Booker surrounded by reporters.<\/span><span class=\"image-attribution image-attribution-ux-impr\">\u00a9\u00a0Anna Moneymaker\/Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">A bold new idea is taking the Democrats by storm: massive middle-class tax cuts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">Last week, two of the party\u2019s rumored 2028 candidates \u2014 Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Cory Booker \u2014\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/tax-cuts-democrats-cory-booker-van-hollen-who-would-benefit\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">unveiled plans<\/a>\u00a0to fully exempt tens of millions of Americans from federal income taxes.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-vox-media-highlight vox-media-highlight\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading article-sub-heading\">Key takeaways<\/h2>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">\u2022 Sens. Cory Booker and Chris Van Hollen want to eliminate federal income taxes for tens of millions of Americans, financed by taxing the super rich.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">\u2022 But their plans are incompatible with their own proposals for expanding the welfare state.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">\u2022 It\u2019s more important to reduce child poverty and expand public health insurance than to reduce the middle-class\u2019s (already low) tax rates.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none continue-read-break\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">Under Van Hollen\u2019s policy, individuals who earn less than $46,000 \u2014 and married couples who earn less than $92,000 \u2014 would owe nothing to Uncle Sam each year (outside of their payroll taxes, anyway). And millions of Americans who earn<em>\u00a0more\u00a0<\/em>than those sums would also receive a hefty tax break. Under Booker\u2019s plan, meanwhile, Americans would pay no federal income tax on their first $75,000 in earnings. Both senators would finance their tax cuts by soaking the super rich.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">The details of the two bills vary considerably. But each reflects the same general proposition: The Democratic Party needs its own \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/politics\/460158\/no-tax-on-tips-jobs-workers-list-populism\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">No Tax on Tips<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">In 2024, Donald Trump endeared himself to many service workers by arguing that their tipped income should be exempt from federal taxes. Kamala Harris quickly embraced the policy. But by then, Trump had already branded the GOP as the party of simple, sweeping tax cuts for the working class.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">Many Democrats want to steal that mantle. And \u201cno federal tax on <em>any<\/em>\u00a0of your income\u201d presumably beats \u201cno tax on tips\u201d (or, as Trump has also enacted, \u201cno\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fidelity.com\/learning-center\/personal-finance\/no-tax-on-overtime\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">tax on overtime<\/a>\u201d).<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">But the two proposals also represent the culmination of a decades-long trend in Democratic politics.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">Call it the rise of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/We_are_the_99%25\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">99 percentism<\/a>: The belief that only the top 1 percent, or even the small coterie of billionaires within it, should be expected to finance government benefits.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">For much of the 20th century, Democrats were comfortable asking the middle class to pay higher taxes in exchange for more services. By the 1990s, however, the party no longer had the stomach to raise taxes on anyone\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Omnibus_Budget_Reconciliation_Act_of_1993\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">but the upper middle class and above<\/a>. In 2008, Barack Obama promised\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/taxpolicycenter.org\/taxvox\/read-their-lips-clinton-and-obama-take-pledge\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">not to raise taxes<\/a>\u00a0on any family earning less than $250,000; in 2020 and 2024,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/money\/2024\/05\/31\/400000-tax-hike-more-americans-affected\/73890456007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">Joe Biden<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2024\/07\/26\/harris-biden-pledge-not-raise-taxes-middle-class-00171416\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">Kamala Harris<\/a>\u00a0raised that cutoff to $400,000.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">The party\u2019s left flank, meanwhile, has also lost its enthusiasm for broad-based taxation. In her 2020 presidential run, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) proposed a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/policy-and-politics\/2019\/1\/24\/18196275\/elizabeth-warren-wealth-tax\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">wealth tax on fortunes of over $50 million<\/a>. More recently, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), one of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/story\/2015\/12\/bernie-sanders-2016-taxes-217009\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">the last prominent voices on the left to champion higher middle-class taxes<\/a>, unveiled his new \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/business\/2026\/03\/02\/bernie-sanders-billionaires-2028-presidential-race\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">defining vision for our age<\/a>\u201d \u2014 a bevy of new social programs funded\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sanders.senate.gov\/press-releases\/news-sanders-and-khanna-introduce-legislation-to-tax-billionaire-wealth-and-invest-in-working-families\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">exclusively through wealth taxes<\/a>\u00a0on billionaires.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">This shift has a coherent political logic. Democrats have grown increasingly\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/politics\/475325\/cable-news-culture-war-social-media-trump\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">dependent on upper middle-class support<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 while Americans writ large have grown\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/politics\/2025\/12\/04\/public-trust-in-government-1958-2025\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">increasingly distrustful<\/a>\u00a0of their government (and thus, more reluctant to shoulder the costs of expanding it).<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">As a substantive matter, however, 99 percentism is incoherent. Democrats can support a robust welfare state or ultra-low taxes on the middle class \u2014 but they can\u2019t do both.<\/p>\n<div class=\"intra-article-module\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;intraArticle&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13}\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">\u201cIf what you end up with is a tax code that is nominally progressive but low, you will have a government that\u2019s too poor to achieve the goals that the American people want to achieve,\u201d Vanessa Williamson, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told me. \u201cYou\u2019ll have a poor democracy, and it\u2019s very hard to defend a poor democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading article-sub-heading\">The case for \u201cno tax on incomes\u201d<\/h2>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">Before examining the problems with Booker and Van Hollen\u2019s tax packages, it\u2019s worth spelling out the case for them in a bit more detail.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">Ever since the post-pandemic surge of inflation, America has been in an anti-tax mood. Between 2020 and 2025, the share of Americans who deem their federal tax burden \u201ctoo high\u201d jumped from 46 percent to 59 percent in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/news.gallup.com\/poll\/659003\/perceptions-fair-income-taxes-hold-near-record-low.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">Gallup\u2019s polling<\/a>. Over roughly the same period, the percentage of voters who\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/news.gallup.com\/poll\/696191\/record-high-say-government-power.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">think the government is<\/a>\u00a0\u201ctrying to do too many things that should be left to individuals and businesses\u201d rose from 41 percent to 55 percent.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">Recent trends in state-level fiscal policy appear to reflect these sentiments. In 2023 and 2024, states collectively\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/higherlogicdownload.s3.amazonaws.com\/NASBO\/9d2d2db1-c943-4f1b-b750-0fca152d64c2\/UploadedImages\/Fiscal%20Survey\/NASBO_Fall_2024_Fiscal_Survey_of_States_S.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">cut taxes<\/a>\u00a0by $15.5 billion and $13.3 billion respectively \u2014 the two largest annual reductions on record.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">In this context, calls for dramatically reducing ordinary Americans\u2019 tax bills could plausibly resonate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">Furthermore, middle-class tax cuts are a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/permanentcampaign.substack.com\/p\/democrats-dunking-on-a-middle-class\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">simple and fast-acting means<\/a>\u00a0of addressing voters\u2019 affordability concerns. Every household has a unique set of burdensome expenses. The government can\u2019t create a program or\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/politics\/470028\/price-controls-affordability-inflation-mamdani-rent-high-prices\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">price control<\/a>\u00a0that directly addresses each and every one.\u00a0But if you give families more cash, they can use it to defray whichever costs they find most burdensome.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">Of course, Uncle Sam needs tax revenue to function. But a proponent of the Booker-Van Hollen vision could insist that the richest 1 percent is fully capable of shouldering this burden.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">After all, that small segment of the public commands\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/ourworldindata.org\/grapher\/income-share-top-1-before-tax-wid\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">about 21 percent<\/a>\u00a0of the nation\u2019s income and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/fred.stlouisfed.org\/series\/WFRBST01134\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">32 percent<\/a>\u00a0of its wealth. And thanks to various loopholes, some billionaires pay a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.americanprogress.org\/article\/forbes-400-pay-lower-tax-rates-many-ordinary-americans\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">lower effective tax rate<\/a>\u00a0than middle-class families. By shaking down these pampered plutocrats, Democrats can drum up enough money to cut the middle class\u2019s taxes \u2014 and increase their social benefits \u2014 simultaneously (at least, according to this line of thinking).<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">Trump has demonstrated the political potency of big, simple tax cuts for workers. But his party\u2019s inveterate commitment to billionaires\u2019 interests limits how much it can actually do for the middle class. Democrats therefore have an opportunity to beat Trump at his own game.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-none article-sub-heading\">Booker and Van Hollen\u2019s bad math<\/h2>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">Booker and Van Hollen are probably right to see some political upside in middle-class tax cuts. But they haven\u2019t been clear-eyed (or else, forthright) about the costs of their agendas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">Van Hollen\u2019s middle-class tax cut would reduce federal revenue by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/budgetlab.yale.edu\/research\/senator-van-hollens-working-americans-tax-cut-act\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">$1.5 trillion<\/a>, while Booker\u2019s would slash it by more than\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/budgetlab.yale.edu\/research\/senator-bookers-keep-your-pay-act\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\"><em>$5.5<\/em>\u00a0trillion<\/a>. (For context, \u201cNo Tax on Tips\u201d \u2014 the inspiration for these packages \u2014 will cost the Treasury just\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/bipartisanpolicy.org\/explainer\/how-does-no-tax-on-tips-work-in-the-one-big-beautiful-bill\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">$83 billion over the next 10 years<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">And yet, both senators officially support drastically expanding America\u2019s welfare state. They have each backed legislation that would\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/119th-congress\/senate-bill\/2295\/cosponsors\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">subsidize child care costs<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/119th-congress\/senate-bill\/1506\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">socialize the health insurance system<\/a>, make\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/119th-congress\/senate-bill\/1832\/cosponsors\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">public college tuition-free<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.booker.senate.gov\/news\/press\/growing-momentum-for-baby-bonds-as-booker-pressley-re-introduce-landmark-legislation-to-combat-the-growing-racial-wealth-gap\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">give \u201cbonds\u201d to babies<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.americanprogress.org\/topic\/build-back-better\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">\u00a0establish universal prekindergarten,<\/a>\u00a0and provide\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bennet.senate.gov\/2025\/04\/09\/bennet-booker-warnock-cortez-masto-durbin-wyden-senate-colleagues-reintroduce-the-american-family-act-to-expand-the-child-tax-credit\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">working-class families<\/a>\u00a0with\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/itep.org\/senator-van-hollen-working-americans-tax-cut-act-analysis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">a child allowance<\/a>, among other things.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">Taken together, these initiatives would increase federal spending by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/healthcare\/465894-new-study-full-scale-medicare-for-all-costs-32-trillion-over-10-years\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">more than $30 trillion<\/a>\u00a0over a 10-year period.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">Even if one stipulates that Booker and Van Hollen\u2019s Medicare For All bill is a pipe dream \u2014 and that their\u00a0<em>real\u00a0<\/em>health care goals are to reverse\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/politics\/418843\/trump-medicaid-cuts-promise-big-beautiful-bill\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">Trump\u2019s Medicaid cuts<\/a>\u00a0and expand Obamacare subsidies \u2014 their social agenda would still cost many trillions of dollars.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">And, while nobody wants to hear about it much these days, merely financing our existing spending commitments to the elderly remains an unsolved problem. Both senators \u2014 like virtually all Democrats \u2014 oppose cutting Social Security and Medicare benefits. Yet the former program\u2019s trust fund is poised to run out in 2033. At that point, sustaining existing Social Security payment levels will require upward\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/short-reads\/2025\/05\/20\/what-the-data-says-about-social-security\/?utm_source=chatgpt.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">of $4 trillion in new funding<\/a>\u00a0(over the standard 10-year budget window). Medicare is also paying out more than it takes in. And covering that gap will\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cato.org\/blog\/medicares-real-fiscal-crisis-much-worse-trust-fund-insolvency#:~:text=Transfers%20from%20the%20Treasury%20to%20SMI%20Contribute%20Increasingly%20to%20Debt&amp;text=This%20rapid%20and%20unsustainable%20growth,SMI%20Fund's%20Part%20B%20expenditures.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">cost trillions<\/a>\u00a0over the coming decade.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">All this makes it hard to reconcile the Democratic senators\u2019 spending commitments with their tax plans. Nonetheless, both Booker and Van Hollen\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanhollen.senate.gov\/news\/press-releases\/van-hollen-kelly-gillibrand-booker-kim-beyer-introduce-new-bill-to-cut-taxes-for-millions-of-working-americans\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">insist<\/a>\u00a0they\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.booker.senate.gov\/news\/press\/booker-announces-keep-your-pay-act\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">don\u2019t<\/a>\u00a0wish to increase America\u2019s high and rising deficits.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-none article-sub-heading\">A welfare state can\u2019t subsist on the rich alone<\/h2>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">In keeping with 99 percentism, Booker and Van Hollen ostensibly believe that Democrats don\u2019t need to choose between building a Western European-style welfare state and slashing middle-class taxes so long as they also soak the rich.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">But this is implausible for several reasons.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">For one thing, taxes on the super rich don\u2019t \u201cpay for\u201d new social programs in quite the same way that taxes on the middle class do.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">This is because the point of offsetting welfare spending with taxes is, in part, to prevent inflation (a phenomenon Democrats have some unfortunate recent experience confronting).<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">When you expand social benefits, you increase demand for goods and services throughout the economy. Give a working-class family a child allowance, and they\u2019ll be able to afford more discretionary purchases, such as electronics or restaurant meals. Expand access to health insurance, and more people will visit doctors and undergo medical procedures. Subsidize child care and more parents will enroll their kids at daycare centers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">As Americans increase their consumption in this way, they will bid up the price of labor and other resources \u2014 unless tax hikes reduce consumer demand in other parts of the economy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">Unfortunately, billionaire taxes aren\u2019t very effective at reducing demand. Shave $10 billion off Jeff Bezos\u2019s $224 billion fortune, and he won\u2019t have to change his lifestyle at all. His savings will fall. But his consumer spending will likely remain about the same as it was before.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">Separately, the amount of revenue one can squeeze from the super rich is inherently limited: If you raise their income tax rates\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/bipartisanpolicy.org\/issue-brief\/what-a-new-laffer-curve-paper-tells-us-about-raising-taxes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">past a certain threshold<\/a>, they will respond by working less or shifting their capital overseas. If you expropriate their wealth at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/gabriel-zucman.eu\/files\/SaezZucman2019BPEA.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">a high enough rate<\/a>, meanwhile, they will eventually cease to be super rich.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">To be sure, the government can (and should) extract trillions of dollars in additional revenue from the super rich. But it almost certainly cannot collect\u00a0<em>enough<\/em>\u00a0cash from the 1 percent alone to finance both a robust welfare state and low middle-class tax rates.*<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">For these reasons, no large welfare state on Earth is funded overwhelmingly through taxes on the rich. To the contrary,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/gabriel-zucman.eu\/files\/BSYZ2025NBER.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">by some estimates<\/a>, Western European social democracies actually tax billionaires at a\u00a0<em>lower<\/em>\u00a0<em>rate<\/em>\u00a0than the United States does. America isn\u2019t a low-tax nation because we refuse to soak our wealthy, but rather because we\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/musaalgharbi.substack.com\/p\/on-redistribution\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">lightly tax our<\/a>\u00a0working, middle, and upper-middle classes.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-none article-sub-heading\">Senate Democrats aren\u2019t Bolsheviks<\/h2>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">Thus, Booker and Van Hollen\u2019s fiscal agendas simply do not work, even if we assume that congressional Democrats\u2019 appetite for taxing millionaires and billionaires is unlimited.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">But of course, this is not actually the case.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">As we saw during the Biden presidency, moderate Democrats are willing to tax the rich \u2014 but only so much. Even the House version of Biden\u2019s Build Back Better Act \u2014 which proved too progressive to pass the Senate \u2014 would have raised taxes on the wealthy and corporations by only $1.5 trillion. The party\u2019s ultimate spending bill, the Inflation Reduction Act, generated only\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.crfb.org\/blogs\/cbo-scores-ira-238-billion-deficit-reduction?utm_source=chatgpt.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">about $457 billion in revenue<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">If Democrats reclaim full control of government in 2029, their Senate majority\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.slowboring.com\/p\/why-im-obsessed-with-winning-the\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">is likely to be narrow<\/a>. The party\u2019s most moderate members will therefore have veto power over its fiscal policy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">Even if these centrists support taxes on the rich 10 times larger than those endorsed by former Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema in 2022, Democrats still wouldn\u2019t be able to implement more than a fraction of their social agenda (at least, without running up the deficit in a potentially inflationary manner).<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">In practice then, every dollar that Democrats dedicate to middle-class tax cuts is one that they cannot spend on expanding the welfare state.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">\u201cIf you\u2019re going to have a trillion dollars \u2014 or maybe a little more \u2014 from new taxes on the wealthy, you want to make sure that those funds are addressing America\u2019s biggest problems,\u201d Will Raderman, a senior policy adviser at the Searchlight Institute, told me. \u201cShrinking the tax base does not seem like it should be a top priority.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">Indeed, it is hard to argue that lowering middle-class tax rates is more important than reversing Trump\u2019s Medicaid cuts, ending child poverty, fixing America\u2019s unemployment insurance system, or stabilizing Social Security and Medicare\u2019s finances.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">Americans might feel like their taxes have grown intolerably high. But federal rates for the bottom 80 percent of workers have actually fallen sharply in recent decades and sit near historic lows.<\/p>\n<div class=\"datawrapper-embed\"><a href=\"https:\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/oH12B\/3\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">View Link<\/a><\/div>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">What\u2019s more, Booker\u2019s tax cut would\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu\/p\/2026-03-11-the-keep-your-pay-act-budgetary-and-distributional-effects\/#:~:text=The%20Keep%20Your%20Pay%20Act%20(KYPA)%20would%20more%20than%20double,the%2010%2Dyear%20budget%20window.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}\">deliver its largest benefits<\/a>\u00a0to the upper middle class. Those between the 80th and 90th percentile of the income distribution would see their after-tax earnings rise by $7,755 \u2014 while those in the bottom 20 percent would collect just $1,840, according to the Penn-Wharton Budget Model.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">This does not seem like a progressive way to allocate a fixed pool of tax dollars.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">Maybe the substantive costs of giant tax cuts would be tolerable, if the electoral upside was truly immense. But there\u2019s reason to doubt that. For all the hype around \u201cNo Tax on Tips,\u201d presidents in both parties have showered tax cuts on voters throughout the last 25 years without any consistent boost to their electoral fortunes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">\u201cThe political benefits of giving people cash \u2014 through tax cuts or rebates \u2014 don\u2019t seem particularly large,\u201d Brendan Duke, a senior director at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said. \u201cDonald Trump did a large tax cut in 2017 and his party proceeded to lose the House in the midterm elections of 2018. He gave out rebate checks in 2020 and then ended up losing the presidential election.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\" data-t=\"{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;a&quot;:&quot;click&quot;,&quot;b&quot;:76}\">Perhaps this time is different and Democrats can win in 2028 by pledging to slash middle-class taxes. If they do, however, then the election\u2019s loser won\u2019t just be the Republican Party \u2014 but also, American liberalism\u2019s core economic project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cory Booker surrounded by reporters.\u00a9\u00a0Anna Moneymaker\/Getty Images A bold new idea is taking the Democrats by storm: massive middle-class tax cuts. Last week, two of the party\u2019s rumored 2028 candidates \u2014 Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Cory Booker \u2014\u00a0unveiled plans\u00a0to fully exempt tens of millions of Americans from federal income taxes. Key takeaways \u2022 Sens. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1059"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1059\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1061,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1059\/revisions\/1061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}