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Sanders Calls Trump’s Infrastructure Plan a ‘Scam’

Says it’s ‘corporate welfare’ for Wall Street

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders says he plans to reintroduce his Rebuild America Act next year. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders says he plans to reintroduce his Rebuild America Act next year. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

Sen. Bernie Sanders has denounced President-elect Donald Trump’s infrastructure proposal as “a scam.” 

Some Democrats have signaled that updating the nation’s infrastructure might be something they could work with the incoming president on.

But in a Medium post on Monday, Sanders said Trump’s plan would create new tax loopholes for corporations. The Vermont independent noted that the Rebuild America Act which he introduced in 2015 eliminates loopholes for corporations that stashed profits overseas.

Trump’s plan bears similarity to a piece of legislation proposed last year by GOP Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, which would allow corporations to return foreign earnings to the U.S. at a tax rate of 6.5 percent to be transferred into the Highway Trust Fund.

“And then he would allow the companies to ‘invest’ in infrastructure projects in exchange for even more tax breaks,” Sanders wrote. “Trump’s plan is corporate welfare coming and going.”

Sanders wrote that he plans to re-introduce his legislation from last year.

“Unlike Trump’s plan, which creates new tax loopholes and is a corporate giveaway, my Rebuild America Act would be paid for by eliminating tax loopholes that allow hugely profitable multinational corporations to stash their profits in offshore tax havens around the world,” he wrote.

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