Chris Matthews Grills Elizabeth Warren for Dodging Question on Raising Taxes: ‘Why Don’t You Want to Answer?’

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews grilled Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) following Tuesday night’s debate, aggressively confronting her for refusing to say if Medicare for All will result in higher taxes for middle-class Americans.

Matthews was less than impressed by Warren’s and Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) debate performances and wondered why they refused to directly admit that their lofty Medicare for All plans would result in higher taxes for middle-class Americans:

“You guys dodged that [question] tonight,” Matthews told Warren in a post-debate interview. “How much will your taxes go up?”

Warren refused to answer.

“How much are your costs going to go down?” Warren replied.

“I know that argument,” Matthews said, “but you’re covering it.”

Warren refused to concede, arguing that Medicare for All is “cheaper than our current system.”

“I know the argument,” Matthews responded, laying out both Warren and Sanders’ mutual answer on the amount of money Americans will supposedly save in terms of healthcare premiums.

“You put it all together and you reduce the cost of healthcare premiums, and you get more benefits, therefore you come out ahead, but will you pay more in taxes? Why don’t you want to answer that question?” he continued, adding that the question is “not a Republican talking point”

“It’s a question about where people are gonna come out economically,” Warren said.

“That’s not my question,” Matthews repeated. “My question is how much will taxes go up.”

“The question is about costs,” she said.

“I know that’s the answer you like to give,” Matthews said.

“Will your taxes go up?” he continued. “Will your taxes go up? … There is no answer to the question, will your taxes go up”:

CNN’s Jake Tapper asked candidates Tuesday night if they are “willing to raise taxes on middle-class Americans in order to have universal coverage with the disappearance of insurance premiums.”

Sanders was visibly irritated by the question and rebuked Tapper for repeating a “Republican talking point.”

“What I am talking about and others up here are talking about is no deductibles and no co-payments,” Sanders contended. “And, Jake, your question is a Republican talking point”:

During the first debate last month, Sanders admitted that he would, indeed, raise taxes on the middle class to implement his Medicare for All plan.

“People who have health care under Medicare for all will have no premiums, no deductibles and copayments, and no out of pockets,” Sanders said. “Yes, they will pay more in taxes and less in health care for what they get.”