(Photo: Callaghan O'Hare/Bloomberg)
Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren proposed eliminating student-loan debt for an estimated 42 million Americans with a wealth tax, seeking to show young voters she would ease one of their biggest economic burdens.
The plan would eliminate as much as $50,000 in student debt for anyone with household income of less than $100,000, and partially cancel debt for those who make as much as $250,000.
Beyond $100,000 in income, the $50,000 in per-person debt forgiveness falls by $1 for every $3 earned, zeroing out after $250,000. In other words, those who earn $130,000 are eligible for $40,000 in student debt relief, while those who make $190,000 can lower their loan amount by $20,000.
"The enormous student debt burden weighing down our economy isn't the result of laziness or irresponsibility," Warren wrote in a blog post published Monday. "It's the result of a government that has consistently put the interests of the wealthy and well-connected over the interests of working families."
With a university admissions scandal focusing attention on the inequities of U.S. higher education, making college accessible for all is increasingly a campaign theme on the left. Warren's plan also calls for eliminating undergraduate tuition and fees at two-year and four-year public institutions.
Warren's campaign estimates that her debt cancellation and free-college policies would cost $1.25 trillion over a decade, and called for financing it with a portion of the $2.75 trillion in revenues from her proposed annual tax on wealth of more than $50 million.
