Sanders eyes sharp increase in corporate tax rate, eliminating breaks and loopholes

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Monday unveiled an economic plan that includes sharply increasing the corporate tax rate and eliminating most corporate tax breaks and loopholes.

The plan would increase the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 35 percent, its rate before President Trump took office, and get rid of the breaks and loopholes and offshore tax havens.

Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, aims to get rid of the tax havens by instituting a per-country limit on the foreign tax credit and taxing offshore and domestic income at the same rate.

{mosads}The plan would also require companies that are publicly traded or have at least $100 million in annual revenue or at least $100 million on their balance sheet total to give workers 2 percent of the company’s stock until employees own at least 20 percent of the company. 

“With Bernie’s Corporate Accountability and Democracy Plan, we will give workers an ownership stake in the companies they work for, break up corrupt corporate mergers and monopolies, and finally make corporations pay their fair share,” the Sanders campaign said on a website page describing the plan. 

“When Bernie is president, we’re going to put an end to the corporate greed ruining our country once and for all,” the campaign added. 

Sanders, who revealed his plan a day before the October Democratic debate, has polled near the top of the crowded Democratic field of more than a dozen people. 

Over the weekend, he sought to differentiate himself from fellow top contender Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) by saying that she is a capitalist while he is not. 

“There are differences between Elizabeth and myself,” he said during an interview broadcast on ABC’s “This Week.” “Elizabeth, I think as you know, has said that she is a capitalist through her bones. I’m not.”

“I am, I believe, the only candidate who’s going to say to the ruling class of this country, ‘Enough. Enough with your greed, and with your corruption. We need real change in this country,'” he added.