I think this is one area where Elizabeth Warren has managed to outflank Bernie Sanders, as I’ll explain below. The subject at hand is taxes. Nobody likes paying them, but without them, we don’t have a government. (Your comments of “are you implying that would be a bad thing?” are assumed.) But among the Democrats vying for the nomination, Warren has been dancing along a fine line. Yes, she’s going to be raising taxes… but only on the rich. And it’s an idea that seems to be paying off for her with the base. (The Hill)

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who has already proposed a new wealth tax to raise funds for a variety of new government programs, on Thursday unveiled a plan to expand Social Security by creating two new taxes on wage and investment income for wealthy Americans.

The proposal comes as Warren enjoys a long stretch of momentum in the presidential race that has lifted her in polls and put her side-by-side with former Vice President Joe Biden during last week’s Democratic debate.

Separately, Sen. Ron Wyden (Ore.), the top Democrat on the Senate’s tax-writing committee, rolled out his own proposal designed to prevent the rich from avoiding taxes on their investment gains.

As I mentioned at the top, this is one area where I think Bernie Sanders stumbled coming out of the gate. To give credit where due, Bernie was at least honest and said that his expansive socialist plans would be quite expensive and everyone should expect to pay more taxes for the public good. That didn’t go over too well, even with some Democrats.

You know how the old saying goes, right? Don’t tax you. Don’t tax me. Tax the guy behind the tree.

Warren apparently had that lesson in mind and went with a different strategy. She’s just going to tax “the rich” to pay for her own massive plans. This allows the gullible masses of primary voters to offer their support while glibly smirking, safe in the knowledge that their money will be safe. It’s just those rich fat cats who will pay the bill.

Warren is being completely disingenuous, of course. Should she somehow be elected and get her plans put in place, you can bet that there will be a lot of people out there who will be shocked to find out that they are “rich.” Also, taxing the top wealth brackets for all they’re worth still won’t come anywhere near the cost of Medicare for All, guaranteed basic income and the rest of the schemes she’s cooking up.

But let’s at least give a nod to a workable campaign strategy when we see one. This is a great sounding idea for the Eat the Rich crowd. “Free” stuff for everyone and none of the “common people” will have to dip into their own pockets to pay for it. It’s a lovely fantasy and one that now has Warren starting to challenge Joe Biden in the polls while leaving poor Bernie in the dust.