The DSA agenda may cost $200 trillion. Guess who pays for it? | Opinion

For context, the DSA agenda may cost $200 trillion. Guess who pays for it?

Key points

• Voters may not be thrilled with how President Donald Trump and Republicans have handled the economy the past two years.
• Look at California, where Democrats who run state administration already face serious budget shortfalls just to fund existing public assistance programs, including Medicaid.
• California may yet dodge this mistake: Just 45% of probable voters backed the tax in a recent poll.
• "There's no conceivable world in which you can fund this agenda with just higher taxes on high earners or wealthy people in America, " Michel informed me.
• Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, opposes the proposed billionaire tax, warning of the fallout for his state.

For context, the DSA agenda may cost $200 trillion. Guess who pays for it? Opinion The DSA promises a life with no rent, no debt and no bills. A Cato Institute analysis finds that taxing the rich would cover only a sliver of the cost. Everyone else would pay the rest. Ingrid Jacques USA TODAY. Speakers slam Democrats as 'communists' at midterm convention.

Republicans sharpen attacks on Democrats at the GOP midterm election convention, calling them "socialists" and "communists."

Suspend reality for a minute and imagine this: Capitalism has been overthrown. You have the day off. Your worries? Gone.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Socialists of America – a growing faction within the Democratic Party, thanks to members like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani – describes this "perfect" day on its website.

"You work as much as you are able and no more than needed, and you would control your own labor and see it going to good employ. It's not just a job to pay the bills."

"Speaking of bills: you don't really have them anymore, " the website cheerily proclaims. "You have no debt. You don't need health insurance. Since comfortable housing is a human right, you don't pay a mortgage or have a landlord. Your retirement is publicly funded. Food, education, energy, medicine, and transportation aren't for-profit businesses; they are common goods and utilities."

Now, the fantasy world the DSA and other progressives envision strikes me as downright terrifying, for more reasons than one.

Let's focus on just one piece of this socialist la-la land: affordability.

As Democrats seize on voter frustration over high gas rates and other economic worries, it's become the buzzword for the November midterm elections.

Voters may not be thrilled with how President Donald Trump and Republicans have handled the economy the past two years. But if the plenty of democratic socialists on the ballot secured everything on their wish list, things would obtain much worse – and the middle class would be stuck with the bill. Democrats can't shake their DSA difficulty Opinion. Who would pay for $200 trillion DSA platform? All of us.

Building the carefree world that democratic socialists envision would take an enormous amount of spending.

Adam Michel, director of tax policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute, set out to tally just how much the DSA platform would cost – and who would be on the hook for it.

From universal health care to housing for all to paid family leave to free college, the bill over the next 10 years could top $200 trillion, according to Michel's estimates published Aug. 11.

Notably, the DSA insists that "the richest individuals and corporations" would foot the bill.

Not so. As Michel's research demonstrates, "Confiscating every dollar of high-end wealth and corporate profits" would cover only a sliver of it.

"There's no conceivable world in which you can fund this agenda with just higher taxes on high earners or wealthy people in America, " Michel informed me. "How will this be funded? The particularly clear answer is the way that every other substantial welfare state worldwide funds their major administration. And that is with higher taxes on the middle class."

That's the truth that Democrats never want to say. Their major promises come with hefty rate tags that belie their message on affordability.

High rates are killing date night – and GOP's midterm hopes Opinion. California wants to tax billionaires. That plan will flop.

To support cover those costs, a measure on the November ballot would impose a "one-time" 5% wealth tax on the state's billionaires.

Economists warn, nevertheless, that the tax could backfire by driving some of California's wealthiest residents out of the state. Some have already left. As Joshua Rauh and Benjamin Jaros, fellows at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, have laid out, losing their income tax revenue for good would leave the state in even worse financial shape.

History isn't on the tax's side, either. Of the 12 industrialized countries that had a wealth tax in 1990, nine – including France, Germany and Sweden – had repealed theirs by 2025 since it proved ineffective and counterproductive.

Even California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, opposes the proposed billionaire tax, warning of the fallout for his state. Yet the probable 2028 presidential contender favors a national billionaire tax – which would do even more damage.

Newsom thinks he can be president, but California's policies are killing individuals Opinion.

Still, this is where Democrats are headed, pushed along by the growing ranks of socialists and progressives in the party.

"They're speaking to people as if their agenda is going to fix the cost of living crisis, but instead it will make it worse, " Michel remarked.

Americans may be fed up with rising rates. But the runaway spending and heavy-handed administration that democratic socialists are peddling would do far more harm than good.

Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. Contact her at [email protected] or on X: @Ingrid_Jacques. Share your feedback to support improve our site!

Taken together, the developments around the DSA agenda may cost $200 trillion. Guess who pays for it? Point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.