“They Just Take And Take” – AOC Aims To “Soak The Rich” With Proposed New York Wealth Tax
July 19, 2020
Despite the critical role she played in dissuading Amazon from bringing its “HQ2” to Queens (it was one of two sites chosen by the company after more than a year of searching), AOC triumphed over all of her Democratic primary opponents, including former CNBC reporter Michele Caruso-Cabrera.
And earlier this week, a progressive Democrat successfully primary-ed longtime Democratic incumbent in a district that encompasses parts of the Bronx and Westchester.
Although not every AOC-approved candidate in NYC has achieved this much, the city’s outsize community of mostly white college-educated “socialist organizers” has emerged as a political force capable of outmatching NYC’s ossified Democratic machine (shriveled after nearly 8 years of de Blasio’s ineptitude) Mayor De Blasio might be a committed progressive, but he’s not down for the revolution, man. The rose-emoji crew want to ensure that city offices are occupied by candidates that they approve. Which is why mayor-in-waiting Scott Stringer shouldn’t count his chickens before they hatch.
Though her career in Congress has been marked by staggering displays of ineptitude, she has succeeded in her main objective: normalizing crypto-marxist policies like a jobs guarantee, UBI and the sprawling ‘Green New Deal’. And although her progressive bloc only counts four members (“the Squad”, as they’ve come to be known), a fifth might be joining them in the next Congress if Bowman triumphs in November.
TRENDING: How To Bring ANY Battery Back To Life. Fool-Proof Method But after months of hard work in Washington, AOC is turning her attention back to NYC, with her latest campaign: A “wealth tax” to finance an emergency worker bailout fund for poor and undocumented New Yorkers.
According to Bloomberg, AOC’s proposed wealth tax would tax the wealthy on unrealized gains in their stock portfolios. Currently, investments typically aren’t taxed until they are sold and a profit (or loss) is realized.
New York would be the first state in the country to enact a wealth tax that targets wealth, instead of solely income (whether individual or corporate) and consumer spending. The state bill will be considered when the NY legislature returns from vacation on Monday.
“It’s time to stop protecting billionaires, and it’s time to start working for working families,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a video directed at Cuomo. The message spread on Twitter with the hashtag #MakeBillionairesPay.
Of course, there’s a small problem with AOC’s plan: the rich often hold large slugs of stock because of the power it bequeaths them to influence the board. For Jeff Bezos, his double-digit stake in Amazon is part of how he retains control over Amazon. If shareholders had tossed Bezos out during the aftermath of the dot- com bust, would Amazon shares be worth $3,000 a share today?
A wealth tax would be a massive disincentive for every wealthy individual or family who falls under its purview. Many would probably follow Carl Icahn to Miami, or another Sun Belt state where taxes are much, much lower.
As Lloyd Blankfein explains in a tweet. These types of extreme tax regimes often decrease tax revenue.
But as the public debate over the wealth tax advances, we suspect we won’t be hearing AOC delve into the finer points of tax policy. It’s much more effective to simply organize a protest and get all your media buddies to come out and photograph crowds with their “soak the rich” signs.
The protest began at Madison Square Park, where Jeff Bezos spent $96 million creating his Manhattan dream home.
From there, the small group marched to the Midtown offices of Governor Andrew Cuomo with a demand that has begun to grow louder as the pandemic grinds on: soak the super-rich.