2020 sweepstakes: Dem candidates compete to give away billions in taxpayer $$

"Medicare-for-all" and free community college are just the starting point. Some candidatesvying for the Democratic presidential nomination are going beyond promising gobs of government benefits and proposing a more straightforward approach -- simply giving away money.

Candidates like Cory Booker, Marianne Williamson and Andrew Yang are among those pitching cash handout plans this election cycle.

And for Yang, a tech entrepreneur who warns that an automation crisis will soon rock America's economy, the handout program is his defining campaign policy. His plan is simple, on the surface: every American citizen over the age of 18 gets $1,000 every month.

"My flagship proposal, the 'freedom dividend,' would put $1,000 a month into the hands of every American adult. It would be a game-changer for millions of American families," he said at last month's CNN-hosted debate in Detroit.
The only major caveat for Yang's plan is that those receiving benefits such as welfare or disability would not be eligible, but would have the option to collect their existing benefits or get the $1,000.

Yang’s plan to pay for such a costly endeavor would be to institute a Value-Added Tax (VAT) of 10 percent on the production of goods and services, which he estimates would raise $800 billion. He also proposes a carbon fee as a tax on pollution, as well as higher tax rates for capital gains and a financial transactions tax to collect greater revenue from wealthier Americans.

Booker, meanwhile, has his own proposal which he's already pursuing in Congress -- legislation to start a savings account for every American child when they're born.

“Wealth inequality is at its highest point in decades—and because household wealth shapes opportunity, extreme wealth inequality in America is undermining equal opportunity,” Booker said in a July press release.


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