Elsewhere on Capitol Hill, Democratic Socialist Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Tuesday it’s time for Democrats to embrace a marginal tax rate of 70 percent on the wealthiest earners. Ocasio-Cortez says revenue from shifting the tax burden onto those who can most afford to pay could fund progressive legislation like universal healthcare or a Green New Deal. Speaking to The Hill on Tuesday, Ocasio-Cortez cited new polling data showing a majority of Americans support the idea.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: “I don’t think it’s a case that I have to make, because it’s a case that the majority of Americans have already made. This is a policy that is already popular. And it’s time that we embrace working Americans, and it’s time that the Democratic Party fights, in a full-throated manner, for the working class in the United States. And to not support a marginal tax rate is to really just allow runaway wealth inequality to persist.”