Progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez proposed taxing the wealthy up to 70 percent to pay for her climate change policies.
In an interview with Anderson Cooper for “60 Minutes,” set to air Sunday, the newly sworn-in lawmaker said the Green New Deal plan would require something similar to tax rates in the 1960s.
“It’s going to require a lot of rapid change that we don’t even conceive as possible right now,” she said. “There’s an element where, yeah, people are going to have to start paying their fair share in taxes.”
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez argued tax rates would increase with additional levels of income.
“Once you get to the tippy tops, on your $10 millionth, sometimes you see tax rates as high as 60 percent or 70 percent,” she said. “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.”
Mr. Cooper called her plan “radical,” a label the liberal lightning rod enthusiastically embraced.
“I think that it only has ever been radicals that have changed this country,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said. “Yeah, if that’s what radical means, call me a radical.”
On 60 minutes, @AOC calls for raising taxes up to “60 or 70 percent” for highest earners
— Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) January 4, 2019
“People are going to have to start paying their fair share in taxes” pic.twitter.com/onAkHYMAqX
Please read our comment policy before commenting.