Not gonna happen….She knows that….
Even though she’s a newbie House lawmaker?
She has every right to advance things she would like to see….
(The rate for the rich was 90% in the 1950 to 1960’s)….
The NYC lawmaker is getting some flack from Democrats for outspokenness .
But that’s good….
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-chairwoman 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. Raúl 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….
image…nbcnews.com
In the 1950’s, under Ike, the top marginal rate was above 90%, although the rich could find a lot of loopholes.
So 70%, whether it’s good or bad, is not from outer space.
And the top 1% and top 0.5% and top 0.1% are receiving a much larger piece of the pie than 65 years ago, so in theory a higher marginal rate would yield more now than it did then.
However, no matter how high it is, it won’t be nearly enough by itself to fund what progressives, and even more moderate or centrist Democrats, think is necessary in terms of infrastructure, education, housing, health care, retirement security and a transition to a healthier environment.
That was back in the day for sure…
She knows that and doesn’t believe it will become anything close to a reality…