Sanders on 90 Percent Tax Rate: ‘I’m Not as Much of a Socialist Compared to Eisenhower’

RUSH TRANSCRIPT:

MODERATOR: "Senator Sanders, you want to make public college free altogether. You want to increase social security benefits and you want to spend $1 trillion on infrastructure. You said to do some of these things you'll impose a tax on top earners. How high would their rate go in a Sanders administration?" 
SANDERS: "Let me put those proposals-- and you're absolutely right. That is what I want to do. That is what is going to have to happen if we want to revitalize and rebuild the crumbling middle class. In the last 30 years, there has been a massive redistribution of wealth. And I know that term gets my Republican friends nervous. The problem is, this redistribution has gone in the wrong direction. Trillions of dollars have gone from the middle class and working family to the top one-tenth of 1% who have doubled the percentage of wealthy. Yes, I do believe we must end corporate loopholes such that major corporations year after year pay virtually zero in federal income tax because they're stashing the money in the caymen islands. Yes, I do believe there must be a tax on Wall Street speculation. We bailed out Wall Street. It's their time to bail out the middle class. Help our kids be able to go to college tuition free. So we pay for this by do demanding that the wealthiest people and the largest corporations who have gotten away with murder for years now pay their fair share." 
MODERATOR: "Let's get specific. How high would you go inspect? You said before above 50%." 
SANDERS: "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. I'm not that much of a socialist compared to Eisenhower. ( Laughter ) ( Applause ) But, but, we are going to end the absurdity as Warren buffet often reminds us that billionaires pay an effective tax rate lower than nurses or truck drivers. That makes no sense at all. There has to be real tax reform and the wealthiest corporations will have to pay."