Potential 2020 presidential candidate Julian Castro defended Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’ proposed tax hike over the weekend; citing a time in America where the wealthiest residents payed a tax rate of 90%.
“Oh, I can support folks at the top paying their fair share,” said Castro while speaking with ABC’s ‘This Week.’
“There was a time in this country where the top marginal tax rate was over 90 percent, even during Reagan’s era in the 1980s it was around 50 percent,” he added.
Cortez made national headlines Sunday when she claimed those at the “tippy top” should pay a tax rate of 60% to 70%.
'60 MINUTES' SUNDAY:
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suggests taxes as high as 70% on the wealthiest to pay for a "Green New Deal."
“Once you get to the tippy tops, on your $10 millionth, sometimes you see tax rates as high as 60% or 70%. 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,” said Cortez.
Everything you are saying about tax rates is correct. Top rates were higher and now they were lower.
For thirty-five years after World War II, the United States had a top marginal tax rate in the area of 70%. During that period, we had the world’s leading economy, unprecedented rates of GDP growth, and consistent income growth for middle class and blue collar workers.
Since President Reagan started the downward trend in the top marginal rate, we have seen much lower rates of GDP growth, stagnation in the incomes of middle class and blue collar workers and skyrocketing income inequality.
My preference is for the American economy to grow strongly and reward all the people who work for a living. I cannot imagine anyone would disagree with that.
Now maybe, those strong results had nothing to do with the top marginal tax rate, but you can make a good argument for the American economy 1945-1980 was a good place for most Americans. So I think the top marginal tax rate needs a more serious assessment that just being written off as “socialism.” 1945 – 1980 was the Cold War; there weren’t a lot of socialists in the foxholes.
If we want to make America great again, maybe we should do the things America did when it was great back then.
Socialism can’t be written off, its the enemy of capitalism which is what made America GREAT! I agree with another poster in this thread tax leftists and Democrats 90% and the rest of us 10%!
