Posted on 01/12/2019 10:30:38 AM PST by yesthatjallen
House Democrats are treading carefully when it comes to talk of a 70 percent marginal tax rate on income above $10 million, an idea floated by freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) in a recent “60 Minutes” interview.
Many Democrats are supportive of the freshman phenom’s call for higher taxes on the rich, but even some progressives are stopping short of endorsing that high a marginal rate.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), a co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said she thinks “the fact that people are not paying their fair share is a problem and the millionaires and billionaires are the ones where that has to rest.”
Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), a leader of the progressive caucus in the last Congress, said that while it’s important to make sure that “everybody’s carrying their load,” he didn’t know if 70 percent “would be the right number or not.”
House Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) said he wasn’t sure about a specific top rate but said that Ocasio-Cortez is “not off-base.”
Other Democratic lawmakers were more critical.
“I thought it was comical,” said Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.), a member of the tax writing Ways and Means panel.
“You can have reasonable taxation, and then you can send signals that we’re just going to go after people who have a few dollars,” he said.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who is first vice chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said he would take a different approach to raising revenue, such as repealing past tax cuts on high earners, taxing corporations on foreign earnings that currently aren’t being taxed, creating a financial transactions tax and reducing U.S. military involvement overseas.
“My view is one that there are better ways of getting to the revenue” than a 70-percent tax on high incomes, he said.
Ocasio-Cortez floated the idea as a way to help pay for a “Green New Deal,” a proposal aimed at taking action on climate change.
More broadly, the new lawmaker has argued that a progressive tax system with higher taxes on the wealthy is well worth considering as the country looks for ways to pay for initiative on healthcare and other safety-net issues.
She also made the argument that such high rates are hardly unprecedented.
“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 zero to $75,000 maybe 10 percent or 15 percent, et cetera. 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,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
She noted that a high marginal rate wouldn’t hit most Americans, and that it would also only pinch a portion of a wealthy person’s income. A 70 percent marginal rate on income of $10 million would be effective only on a person’s income above $10 million.
“That 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,” she said in the “60 Minutes” interview.
Ocasio-Cortez spokesman Corbin Trent told The Hill that what the congresswoman’s remarks on the show were “more conceptual” than a specific proposal for a 70 percent marginal rate.
The top marginal tax rate in the United States was above 90 percent in much of the 1950s and early 1960s, and the rate was 70 percent as recently as 1980.That year, the 70-percent rate applied to income over $215,400 for married couples.
During Ronald Reagan’s presidency, the top rate was first cut to 50 percent and then lowered again to 28 percent.
In the last 25 years, the top rate has been in the mid-to-high 30s, with President Trump’s tax law lowering the top rate from 39.6 percent to 37 percent. In 2019, the 37-percent rate applies to income over $612,350 for a married couple filing jointly.
Ocasio-Cortez’s call for a 70 percent marginal tax rate does have the support of another freshman progressive lawmaker: Rep. Ayana Pressley (D-Mass.), who said she could potentially see herself introducing or sponsoring legislation down the line.
“I think we have a decisive mandate from this electorate, this 116th Congressional class to be bold. I think every creative solution needs to be on the table,”Pressley told The Hill. “And from a values based perspective to tax those, you know, who earn $10 million a year, I think it's exactly what we should be doing.”
Pressley said, while she and most members are currently focused on the partial government shutdown, she looks forward to continuing having a dialogue with like-minded members as they consider crafting policy.
ETC...
All the millionaires will do is move income into stock options or turn income into bonuses.
True!
It should be voluntary. Of course, all the liberals would jump right in. Bezos, zuckerberg, soros, steyer. That right there would build a nice wall.
Government does not make money. It steals it.
“They do not just forget the cultural social leanings they were raised with, rather desire to install those in our country to change our country into the very failed systems they come from. “
Bingo. That’s my opinion as well, and I’ve been paying attention to them for a long time while watching California be transformed.
People who think that this state was transformed because of illegal aliens from Mexico are missing the much greater impact of mass legal immigration from the 3rd world.
The legals all vote. Illegal aliens, not so much. They both vote left.
You forgot your sarcasm tag.
I’m waiting for Warren Buffet to embrace this. Or Bill Gates, Tom Steyer, Larry Ellison, and all the other billionaires who are always preening and pledging that they want higher taxes.
Someone needs to put a microphone to these guys and ask them to pledge their financial assistance to get this done, not just phony lip service, real hard financial backing to push for this.
Whatever you say, Comrade.
The left is pure scum. The do nothing GOP is floating on it.
Who cares what this air head twit thinks?
Personally, I’m getting tired or Republicans defending the super-rich. What do we get back? Answer:. A bunch of super rich Trump haters demanding open borders. As far as I’m concerned they can go been the Democrats for low taxes.
Screw them. Let them beg the Democrats for low taxes.
This is all a scam. The ultra wealthy do not have income the way ordinary workers and business owners do. How about they introduce a wealth tax instead and watch people like Warren Buffett squeal.
I looked at the comments at The Hill, and it is scary how ignorant and covetous people are. Wow.
Like-minded members, Ms Pressley? You do mean Socialists or do you mean Communists? I know you don’t mean Capitalists!!
Progressive taxation is equal treatment under the law. ..... Nope, it is not.
A single tax rate is equal treatment. “Progressive” taxation is the most regressive and anti-growth form of taxation that exists.
I never said that equal treatment under the law was required. In recognition of that fact, I recommended that the GOP offer a constitutional amendment to effect that change. More theater to counter the DEM theater.
In reality, I would prefer representative apportionment. Taxes are based on prior year spend, divided down to a per Senator and per representative amount. Each state is then taxed for their senators and representatives. States get to decide for themselves how they will collect taxes to meet their obligation. States are prohibited from paying salaries of their elected officials until that federal obligation has been paid. That would also require a constitutional change.
If a state wants to tax one group of citizens at a punitive tax rate, they can do so. Others states might tax land ownership, or corporations, or trusts or sales or something else. Each state gets to tax what works for them.
However, the power to tax is the power to destroy. Tax one thing to heavily and that one thing will leave that state.
Taking economic advice from the ignorant AOC makes about as much sensense as listening to the Parkland kids about gun-control. If you don’t know the basic facts the chances of drawing logical conclusions are pretty remote.
Google search says Jayapal, my congresscritter, has a net worth of 2.5 million. Her only jobs listed on Wiki are as a “political activist” and congresscritter.
She has become a multimillionaire while producing nothing but pro-open borders policies. She is as corrupt as they come, a total hypocrite and a “rising star” in the Dem party.
She is an Trojan horse, worse than an enemy from outside.
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