Bernie Sanders has often been asked how he plans to pay for his "free college" proposal. Wall Street will take care of it, he keeps telling us. Yet, PolitiFact argues he has routinely omitted another not-so-attractive part of his plan.
On his campaign website, Sanders explains that his free tuition plan will actually cost $75 billion a year and will be paid in the form of a tax on Wall Street. It is a fair proposal, considering Wall Street "nearly destroyed the economy seven years ago," his campaign argues.
What the Sanders team seems to downplay is the fact that Wall Street will only cover two-thirds of the plan. The rest will need to be funded by participating states. Yet, even that is not guaranteed, considering several states have already indicated they have no plans to expand Medicaid. Who says they wouldn't likewise resist federal funds under Sanders' free college plan?
Because of these "huge" holes in his no-cost tuition proposal, PolitiFact gave it a poor rating.
Sanders has a point that his proposed Wall Street tax would cover part of the plan, but he left out the significant state contribution. And it’s not a sure thing that every state would join in. So we rate his claim Mostly False.
Economic experts may see through the Vermont senator's farfetched plans, but Millennials seem to have eaten up every word of his free college diatribe. He has gained the majority of the youth vote in most of the Democratic primary contests thus far.
Sanders is not the only candidate to be accused of fibbing about Wall Street. Hillary Clinton's claim that she is the only presidential candidate to be targeted by Wall Street was rated not only False by PolitiFact, but "absurd."