Republican billionaire mega-donor Charles Koch and Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders may agree on one thing: The U.S. economic system – especially the tax code – is “rigged” in favor of the wealthy.
“This two-tiered society creates welfare for the wealthy … and creates obstacles to opportunities for the disadvantaged,” said Koch on Sunday in an interview on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.”
In elaborating, he focused on inequities in the tax code.
If it were up to him, Koch said, “we would not have a two-tiered system. We would not have a tax code that subsidizes the wealthy. We would get rid of all of that.”
And specifically he focused on corporate taxes.
“We have this corporate welfare that benefits established companies and makes it very difficult for somebody to get started,” said Koch, who noted that his company – Koch Industries – is among those benefiting from the current tax code.
Koch said he favors getting rid of all tax breaks. None of the Republican presidential candidates are talking about that, he noted. “So that’s why we haven’t supported any of them.”
When it was brought up to Sanders, also a guest on the show, that he may have an unlikely ally in Koch, he was having none of it.
The Kochs — Charles and his brother David — Sanders said, “want to basically do away with virtually every major piece of legislation that has been passed since Franklin Delano Roosevelt was president. That is their understanding of what government should be about. And needless to say, that is not my view.”
