SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Ocasio-Cortez Forced to Explain Marginal Tax Rates to 'Far-Right Former Governor' Scott Walker
"Imagine if you did chores for abuela & she gave you $10. When you got home, you got to keep it, because it's only $10.... Then we taxed the billionaire in town because he's making tons of money underpaying the townspeople."
Jan 14, 2019
In response to a tweet by the former Republican of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) on Tuesday afternoon offered a tax lesson of her own and once again showed why she remains a rising star when it comes to messaging progressive ideas, navigating social media, and dismantling right-wing idiocy disguised as wisdom that the GOP has gotten away with for decades.
"Hey Scott Walker, it's clear that you don't understand marginal tax rates and we can't have you mis-informing America's children." --Tax March
Intended as a likely swipe against Ocasio-Cortez's recent "not at all outlandish" proposal to raise the marginal tax rate on the nation's wealthiest to 70 percent or more--a proposal, by the way, which a new poll out Tuesday shows a majority of Americans support--Walker earlier in the day tweeted out a message in which described how he would explain to 5th graders (in the years "before [Ronald] Reagan") how "tax rates" work - at least in his Koch Brothers-backed mind.
\u201cExplaining tax rates before Reagan to 5th graders: \u201cImagine if you did chores for your grandma and she gave you $10. When you got home, your parents took $7 from you.\u201d The students said: \u201cThat\u2019s not fair!\u201d Even 5th graders get it.\u201d— Scott Walker (@Scott Walker) 1547566748
But right on cue, the congresswoman from New York took Walker's silly tax policy lesson and gave it right back:
\u201cExplaining marginal taxes to a far-right former Governor:\n\nImagine if you did chores for abuela & she gave you $10. When you got home, you got to keep it, because it\u2019s only $10.\n\nThen we taxed the billionaire in town because he\u2019s making tons of money underpaying the townspeople.\u201d— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1547577667
And she wasn't alone.
"What Walker leaves out of the story," joked Washington Post political reporter Dave Weigel, "is that the student had already made $9,999,990 on house work that year and the extra $10 pushed him into the top bracket."
"How is it even possible that you don't know how marginal tax rates work?" the progressive advocacy group Credo Mobile asked Walker.
And while the Patriotic Millionaires, a group wealthy individuals which advocates for higher taxes on people in their tax bracket, offered to share their resource materials to Walker so that he might better understand how the marginal rate works, their progressive allies at the Tax March also wanted to help.
"Hey Scott Walker, it's clear that you don't understand marginal tax rates and we can't have you mis-informing America's children," the group tweeted. "Check out our newest explainer video, it will get you up to speed." Watch:
\u201cWe noticed a lot of folks, even policymakers, (\ud83d\udc40 @SteveScalise ) didn't understand what marginal tax rates were, well we're here to help!\n\nAnd to be clear a 70% marginal tax rate is a moderate, evidence-based policy. \n\nThanks @AOC for bringing this to the forefront.\u201d— Unrig Our Economy (@Unrig Our Economy) 1547572962
Join Us: News for people demanding a better world
Common Dreams is powered by optimists who believe in the power of informed and engaged citizens to ignite and enact change to make the world a better place. We're hundreds of thousands strong, but every single supporter makes the difference. Your contribution supports this bold media model—free, independent, and dedicated to reporting the facts every day. Stand with us in the fight for economic equality, social justice, human rights, and a more sustainable future. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover the issues the corporate media never will. |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
In response to a tweet by the former Republican of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) on Tuesday afternoon offered a tax lesson of her own and once again showed why she remains a rising star when it comes to messaging progressive ideas, navigating social media, and dismantling right-wing idiocy disguised as wisdom that the GOP has gotten away with for decades.
"Hey Scott Walker, it's clear that you don't understand marginal tax rates and we can't have you mis-informing America's children." --Tax March
Intended as a likely swipe against Ocasio-Cortez's recent "not at all outlandish" proposal to raise the marginal tax rate on the nation's wealthiest to 70 percent or more--a proposal, by the way, which a new poll out Tuesday shows a majority of Americans support--Walker earlier in the day tweeted out a message in which described how he would explain to 5th graders (in the years "before [Ronald] Reagan") how "tax rates" work - at least in his Koch Brothers-backed mind.
\u201cExplaining tax rates before Reagan to 5th graders: \u201cImagine if you did chores for your grandma and she gave you $10. When you got home, your parents took $7 from you.\u201d The students said: \u201cThat\u2019s not fair!\u201d Even 5th graders get it.\u201d— Scott Walker (@Scott Walker) 1547566748
But right on cue, the congresswoman from New York took Walker's silly tax policy lesson and gave it right back:
\u201cExplaining marginal taxes to a far-right former Governor:\n\nImagine if you did chores for abuela & she gave you $10. When you got home, you got to keep it, because it\u2019s only $10.\n\nThen we taxed the billionaire in town because he\u2019s making tons of money underpaying the townspeople.\u201d— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1547577667
And she wasn't alone.
"What Walker leaves out of the story," joked Washington Post political reporter Dave Weigel, "is that the student had already made $9,999,990 on house work that year and the extra $10 pushed him into the top bracket."
"How is it even possible that you don't know how marginal tax rates work?" the progressive advocacy group Credo Mobile asked Walker.
And while the Patriotic Millionaires, a group wealthy individuals which advocates for higher taxes on people in their tax bracket, offered to share their resource materials to Walker so that he might better understand how the marginal rate works, their progressive allies at the Tax March also wanted to help.
"Hey Scott Walker, it's clear that you don't understand marginal tax rates and we can't have you mis-informing America's children," the group tweeted. "Check out our newest explainer video, it will get you up to speed." Watch:
\u201cWe noticed a lot of folks, even policymakers, (\ud83d\udc40 @SteveScalise ) didn't understand what marginal tax rates were, well we're here to help!\n\nAnd to be clear a 70% marginal tax rate is a moderate, evidence-based policy. \n\nThanks @AOC for bringing this to the forefront.\u201d— Unrig Our Economy (@Unrig Our Economy) 1547572962
In response to a tweet by the former Republican of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) on Tuesday afternoon offered a tax lesson of her own and once again showed why she remains a rising star when it comes to messaging progressive ideas, navigating social media, and dismantling right-wing idiocy disguised as wisdom that the GOP has gotten away with for decades.
"Hey Scott Walker, it's clear that you don't understand marginal tax rates and we can't have you mis-informing America's children." --Tax March
Intended as a likely swipe against Ocasio-Cortez's recent "not at all outlandish" proposal to raise the marginal tax rate on the nation's wealthiest to 70 percent or more--a proposal, by the way, which a new poll out Tuesday shows a majority of Americans support--Walker earlier in the day tweeted out a message in which described how he would explain to 5th graders (in the years "before [Ronald] Reagan") how "tax rates" work - at least in his Koch Brothers-backed mind.
\u201cExplaining tax rates before Reagan to 5th graders: \u201cImagine if you did chores for your grandma and she gave you $10. When you got home, your parents took $7 from you.\u201d The students said: \u201cThat\u2019s not fair!\u201d Even 5th graders get it.\u201d— Scott Walker (@Scott Walker) 1547566748
But right on cue, the congresswoman from New York took Walker's silly tax policy lesson and gave it right back:
\u201cExplaining marginal taxes to a far-right former Governor:\n\nImagine if you did chores for abuela & she gave you $10. When you got home, you got to keep it, because it\u2019s only $10.\n\nThen we taxed the billionaire in town because he\u2019s making tons of money underpaying the townspeople.\u201d— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1547577667
And she wasn't alone.
"What Walker leaves out of the story," joked Washington Post political reporter Dave Weigel, "is that the student had already made $9,999,990 on house work that year and the extra $10 pushed him into the top bracket."
"How is it even possible that you don't know how marginal tax rates work?" the progressive advocacy group Credo Mobile asked Walker.
And while the Patriotic Millionaires, a group wealthy individuals which advocates for higher taxes on people in their tax bracket, offered to share their resource materials to Walker so that he might better understand how the marginal rate works, their progressive allies at the Tax March also wanted to help.
"Hey Scott Walker, it's clear that you don't understand marginal tax rates and we can't have you mis-informing America's children," the group tweeted. "Check out our newest explainer video, it will get you up to speed." Watch:
\u201cWe noticed a lot of folks, even policymakers, (\ud83d\udc40 @SteveScalise ) didn't understand what marginal tax rates were, well we're here to help!\n\nAnd to be clear a 70% marginal tax rate is a moderate, evidence-based policy. \n\nThanks @AOC for bringing this to the forefront.\u201d— Unrig Our Economy (@Unrig Our Economy) 1547572962
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.