Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), sponsor of the Social Security Expansion Act in the Senate, said the proposed "net investment income tax" increase from 3.8 percent to 10 percent would make "millionaires and billionaires" pay more in taxes to expand Social Security and extend the life of the program. The investment gains tax originally became law as part of Obamacare.
"Everybody in this room knows that Social Security hasn’t added a nickel to the debt. It’s tax breaks for billionaires and the war in Iraq and an inflated military budget that in fact led to the high deficits and the national debt," Sanders said during a press conference on Capitol Hill last week with the organization Social Security Works.
"Starting at $250,000 and going up, the top one and a half percent will be paying more in taxes, and at a time of massive income inequality that is appropriate. And what will we do with that additional revenue? We are going to extend the life of Social Security for 61 years. How’s that? And we’re going to expand benefits, not cut them," he added.