Democratic socialists are racking up primary victories in 2026. Now a new analysis attempts to put a price tag on the policies they are campaigning on: as much as $212 trillion over 10 years.
The Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, estimates that the top nine Democratic Socialists of America’s policy proposals would increase federal spending between $71 trillion and $212 trillion over the next decade. Even confiscating the wealth of America’s 400 richest people, taking all projected corporate profits and imposing revenue-maximizing tax rates on top earners wouldn’t come close to paying the bill, according to the analysis.
That leaves a much larger group of taxpayers—specifically the middle class—on the hook to finance the agenda, Adam Michel, director of tax policy studies at the Cato Institute, told Financial Advisor magazine.
“The reality is it ultimately leads to much larger taxes on all Americans, which is how all other socialist countries do it,” Michel said. “They have high payroll taxes, high income taxes, high consumption taxes.”
The analysis comes as DSA-backed candidates demonstrate growing strength in Democratic primaries. Donavan McKinney defeated incumbent Rep. Shri Thanedar in Michigan last week, while Rep. Rashida Tlaib easily won renomination. Earlier congressional winners backed by the organization include Chris Rabb in Pennsylvania, Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier in New York and Melat Kiros in Colorado.
The movement hit a roadblock Tuesday, however, when DSA-backed Wisconsin state Rep. Francesca Hong narrowly lost the Democratic gubernatorial primary to David Crowley, the Milwaukee County executive, denying the organization an opportunity to elect its first governor.
Still, DSA-backed candidates have won races across the country this year, including contests in Michigan, Missouri, Kansas and Washington state, building on earlier victories in Philadelphia, New York City and Denver.
Michel argues the movement’s economic ambitions deserve greater scrutiny as its political influence grows.
“They’re doing fairly well, unfortunately,” Michel said. “The DSA is one extreme of what is being sold. I think it is dangerous that it has pulled policy on the left toward it.”
Cato’s $71 trillion-to-$212 trillion estimate covers nine major DSA proposals, including Medicare for All, a federal jobs guarantee, universal childcare, free college, expanded Social Security benefits and large-scale housing and climate initiatives.
At the high end, Michel calculates the proposals could push federal spending toward 92% of gross domestic product.
The obvious question is who pays.
The DSA calls for steep taxes on corporations and wealthy Americans. But Michel argues there isn’t enough wealth at the top to finance spending on the scale envisioned.
Cato estimates confiscating the entire wealth of the 400 richest Americans would raise about $6.6 trillion. Taking every dollar of projected corporate profits over the decade would add roughly $32 trillion. Raising top individual income tax rates to levels Cato estimates would maximize government revenue would generate another $3.4 trillion.
Even those extraordinary measures would leave between $29 trillion and $169 trillion unfunded.
And taking wealth in such a way wouldn’t offer a recurring revenue source.
“If you actually confiscated every dollar, the next year there will be nothing in the well to go back to because the wealth will be gone,” Michel said. “The plan to extract all high-income and corporate wealth and revenues leaves you with nothing to grab or tax in year two.”
There are contradictions in the agenda as well, he said.
“They say they’re going to raise taxes significantly on the largest corporations, but then say they’ll nationalize their businesses,” Michel said. “If you nationalize, you’ll no longer be getting taxes from profits.”
Michel argues European welfare states demonstrate what financing expansive government programs actually requires: taxes reaching well into the middle class.
European countries rely heavily on broad-based consumption taxes, payroll levies and income taxes that begin biting at considerably lower incomes than top U.S. tax rates, he said.
“The last time I did a cross-country comparison, the American earning $50,000 to $60,000, if that person was to move to a European country, they’d pay about $12,000 more in taxes each year,” Michel said. “And that’s the low end of the reality.”
And taxpayers shouldn’t assume they’ll get more choice in healthcare or housing. “When government extracts 60% to 70% of wealth, it runs it through the bureaucracy,” Michel said. “It’s government officials deciding. It’s allocated and rationed by a central authority, moving decisions out of individuals’ hands into D.C. bureaucrats.”
Cato advocates smaller government and lower taxes. Its analysis uses upper- and lower-bound estimates because the costs of several DSA proposals depend on their design.
Michel’s larger concern isn’t that Congress will enact a $200 trillion agenda tomorrow. It is that proposals once considered politically marginal could pull mainstream policy toward greater government involvement in healthcare, housing, retirement and other parts of the economy.
“The progressive left is very good at taking small steps,” Michel said. “This is greasing the skids to steps toward all-encompassing government.”