In defiance of Election Losing “Pragmatists” I’ve been saying for years that Democratic Policy Proposals are, in most respects and especially economic ones, cowardly craven sellouts to Monopoly MegaCorps and Thieving Billionaires. Instead the Democrats have escalated Identity Politics as a substitute for true Social Justice, dangling shiny objects while ignoring the root causes of inequality.
These same DLC Blue Dog New Democrat Republicans with a ‘D’ have been trying to reign in Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez because she is too “Radical” and is tarnishing the Party Brand and driving away all their fellow Republican Never Unidicted Co-conspirator Bottomless Pinocchio ers from the “Big Tent” that is perfectly happy to kiss Wall Street’s ass and ignore the plight of their constituents.
The problem is her “Radical” ideas, in particular her “Soak The Rich” Tax Policy are, like Single Payer Medicare For All, enormously popular.
Like 59% popular overall and 45% among Republicans. Republicans!
Poll: A majority of Americans support raising the top tax rate to 70 percent
by Matthew Sheffield, The Hill
1/15/19
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and her Republican critics have both called her proposal to dramatically increase America’s highest tax rate “radical” but a new poll released Tuesday indicates that a majority of Americans agrees with the idea.
In the latest The Hill-HarrisX survey, which was conducted Jan. 12 and 13 after the newly elected congresswoman called for the U.S. to raise its highest tax rate to 70 percent, found that a sizable majority of registered voters, 59 percent, supports the idea.
Ocasio-Cortez has not introduced any legislation to enact the concept but the survey shows a broad cross-section of Americans supports it, at least presently.
Women support the idea by a 62-38 percent margin. A majority of men back it as well, 55 percent to 45 percent. The proposal is popular in all regions of the country with a majority of Southerners backing it by a 57 to 43 percent margin. Rural voters back it as well, 56 percent to 44 percent.
Increasing the highest tax bracket to 70 percent garners a surprising amount of support among Republican voters. In the Hill-HarrisX poll, 45 percent of GOP voters say they favor it while 55 percent are opposed to it.
Independent voters who were contacted backed the tax idea by a 60 to 40 percent margin while Democratic ones favored it, 71 percent to 29 percent.
Ocasio-Cortez is among a group of progressive legislators which includes Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) who have called for increasing federal income tax rates on wealthier Americans. The New York Democrat kicked off a debate within her party in a Jan. 6 interview with “60 Minutes” during which she said she would support setting the highest tax, which she said would kick in at individuals 10 millionth dollar of income, at 70 percent.
In her comments to the CBS show, Ocasio-Cortez referenced tax rates that had once been in place during the mid-20th century. During the 1950s and 60s, the wealthiest Americans were once taxed at a rate in excess of 90 percent.
“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.
The proposal has been met with both criticism and acceptance within the Democratic party. Republicans and conservative commentators have been universally critical, some incorrectly implying that the congresswoman wants to tax all income of the richest Americans at 70 percent.