Clinton was asked how she’d actually pay for the big domestic programs that she’s proposing, and she responded by stressing that she’d raise taxes on the wealthy and close corporate loopholes—but not raise taxes on the middle class.
“[I] made it very clear that hardworking middle-class families need a raise, not a tax increase,” Clinton said, explaining that it would be possible to pay for her domestic priorities “without raising the debt, without raising taxes on the middle class.” By contrast, both Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley have suggested that middle-class Americans may have to pay more.
Clinton’s response seem perfectly primed for a general-election message focused on fiscal responsibility and middle-class economics. She went out of her way to emphasize that a federal minimum wage of $15 an hour that Sanders supports would be going too far. “I think that it is the smartest way to be able to move forward,” she said.