Posted on 01/04/2019 12:52:02 PM PST by Kaslin
In an interview Thursday evening, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) called for a top tax rate of 70 percent, pushing a "Green New Deal" that she admitted is "radical."
"You're talking about zero carbon emissions, no use of fossil fuels within 12 years?" CBS correspondent Anderson Cooper asked Ocasio-Cortez in an interview for 60 Minutes.
"That is the goal," the newly minted Congresswoman admitted, calling her plan "ambitious."
Cooper asked how such a plan could be possible, and Ocasio-Cortez said, "It's going to require a lot of rapid change that we don't even conceive as possible right now."
She admitted that her plan would require raising taxes, something she described as "people are going to have to start paying their fair share."
When asked for a specific tax rate, Ocasio-Cortez named "60 percent or 70 percent" for top earners.
"You know, you look at our tax rates back in the ‘60s, and when you have a progressive tax rate system, your tax rate, you know, let’s say from 0 to $75,000 may be 10 percent or 15 percent, et cetera," she started. "But once you get to like the tippy tops, on your 10 millionth dollar, sometimes you see tax rates as high as 60 or 70 percent."
The self-described democratic socialist insisted that this high tax rate "doesn’t mean all $10 million are taxed at an extremely high rate, but it means that as you climb up this ladder, you should be contributing more."
Such tax rates will likely make Americans eyes pop, but this far-Left congresswoman is merely being true to form. She demands a "Green New Deal," and this kind of tax rate is historically associated with Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal and Lyndon Johnson's Great Society programs.
Many liberals argue that the New Deal got America through or out of the Great Depression. After the 1929 stock market crash, the economy tanked. President Herbert Hoover attempted to launch massive works projects (the Hoover Dam, for instance) in order to restore the economy, but that did not work. Franklin Delano Roosevelt ran for office in 1932, pledging to reverse the government largesse of Hoover, which had not worked to reverse the Depression.
But when Roosevelt took office, he doubled down on Hoover's plan. He created the alphabet soup of government programs to turn around the economy, but his plan failed. The Depression lasted throughout his tenure, and arguably worsened thanks to the New Deal programs. Only after World War II, when soldiers returned to work and when Republicans took Congress and lowered tax rates, did America's economy fully recover.
Ocasio-Cortez could use a history lesson on more than just the effectiveness of the New Deal, however. In admitting to Anderson Cooper that her plan is "radical," the congresswoman insisted that "it only has ever been radicals that have changed this country," referencing Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.
The Emancipation Proclamation freed not a single slave. It was a war-time measure, intended to foment slave rebellion in areas still held by the Confederacy. The proclamation, issued January 1, 1863, merely declared that all slaves in lands controlled by the Confederacy were free in the eyes of the Union.
Contrary to popular belief, this proclamation did not abolish slavery, a feat accomplished by the 13th Amendment in 1865. Lincoln was far less radical than many think — he saw slavery as a moral evil to be restrained, but insisted that if he could keep the United States together without abolishing slavery, he would gladly do so. Ironically, the southern states were far more radical, demanding the expansion of slavery into the territories — in violation of longstanding compromises — and eventually leaving the Union in protest when a president opposed to the expansion of slavery took office.
Ocasio-Cortez's strategy of empowering the federal government to enforce her radical climate alarmist agenda even extends to altering America's form of government. She has called for a fundamental alteration to the U.S. Supreme Court. Again true to the form of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, she called for packing the Court with liberal justices in order to get her way. She also suggested that America should fight climate change like it fought the Nazis in World War II.
High tax rates and war metaphors may sound good to liberals who think that the oceans are rising (they're not) and that high tax rates won't really hurt them. Confiscatory taxes will damage the economy overall, however, harming the rich, poor, and middle class alike.
Americans should reject Ocasio-Cortez's radical ideas, and remember that her activism increasingly represents a great deal of the Democratic Party.
Why not get back to the 98% tax bracket that helped destroy the US economy once before?
Ignoramus at work...the rich pay the majority of taxes...and also know how to shelter income from taxes...sheesh.
Morons’R Us
dems are enemy islamist controlled.
“But once you get to like the tippy tops, on your 10 millionth dollar, sometimes you see tax rates as high as 60 or 70 percent.”
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How can this retard remember to breathe?
The big cosmic joke since day one is that green is the color of money.
Get me a rope jed!
She speaks like a 6th grader. A very stupid 6th grader.
“You’re talking about zero carbon emissions, no use of fossil fuels within 12 years?” CBS correspondent Anderson Cooper asked Ocasio-Cortez in an interview for 60 Minutes.
“That is the goal,” the newly minted Congresswoman admitted, calling her plan “ambitious.”
Cooper asked how such a plan could be possible, and Ocasio-Cortez said, “It’s going to require a lot of rapid change that we don’t even conceive as possible right now.” `````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
I’m with you, sista. Starting tomorrow I am going to put windmills and solar panels on my bulldozers and Bobcats. I don’t like that smelly diesel stuff anyhow, like, you know?
I Vote for instituting a National Tip Jar.
She should just take everybody’s earnings. The government will be well-funded and they can supply us with the life basics and all the green energy as they see fit.
I think we should test it by taxing the rich only her district.
Just once I’d like to all these whiners who complain about “fossil” fuels to live one full month without anything made of, delivered by, powered by, constructed by, or grown with fossil fuels.
She is dumb as a box of rocks, and a total waste of skin!
That is obviously what that clueless moron wants
“and also know how to shelter income from taxes...sheesh.”
I am an absolute nobody as far as taxes go. I am retired and do have some income from investments. I did my taxes down to the nearest dollar and figured out exactly how much I could transfer from my 401k to minimize my taxes. I had an uncle who was audited and they ended up fighting over $50,000. He fired his accountant. He said, “With the amount of money we’re talking about (millions) we should have been fighting over one hell of a lot more than just $50,000. He was being WAY too conservative.” So, yes, people in the “tippy-top” tax brackets can manipulate like heck. The Soviets lowered their tax rates for this reason. They discovered that if people saw the taxes as reasonable they cheated less. (And, yes, they did have taxes.) The Soviets collected more tax money when everybody felt they were treated fairly.
When France raised their taxes the top earners left the country. If you have money, you can move anywhere and they’ll be happy to have you. There must be a dozen studies confirming this.
When these studies were pointed out by an interviewer to Obama he said, “It’s not about collecting money. It’s about fairness.” (Incidentally, I’d love to see what he’s doing as far as deductions go now that he’s insanely rich. Apparently, his statement, “at some point you have enough money” has not been reached yet.)
there’s a reason that this twit with an ivy school economics degree could only be employed as a barista.
I think she’s forgetting the majority of her fellow house/congress-critters are in the millionaires club and this won’t fly with them.
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