Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) joked during the Saturday Democratic presidential debate that he is not as much of a socialist as former President Dwight Eisenhower while discussing his proposal to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans.
CBS moderator John Dickerson noted that Sanders has said that he would raise the marginal rate on top earners above 50 percent and asked the presidential candidate how high he would raise it.
“We haven’t come up with an exact number yet, but it will not be as high as the number under Dwight D. Eisenhower, which was 90 percent,” Sanders responded.
“I’m not that much of a socialist compared to Eisenhower,” he joked, eliciting laughs from the audience.
“But we are going to end the absurdity, as Warren Buffett often reminds us, that billionaires pay an effective tax rate lower than nurses or truck drivers,” he continued. “That makes no sense at all. There has to be real tax reform and the wealthiest and large corporations will pay when I’m president.”
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