About one in two Americans support a proposal by controversial Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, to levy a 70 percent marginal tax rate on persons that make over $10 million annually.
A new poll conducted by Navigator Research reveals that 73 percent of Democrats; 47 percent of independents and 39 percent of Republicans supported the proposal by Ocasio-Cortez. When respondents were asked how they feel about Ocasio-Cortez's 70 percent tax hike, 48% said they supported it and 28% said they opposed it.
A marginal tax rate is a method of taxation that seeks to fairly tax individuals based on their earnings. It is the tax rate incurred on each additional dollar of income.
This simply means the marginal tax rate for an individual will increase as his or her income rises. As a result, low-income earners will be taxed at a lower rate than higher income earners such as the wealthy.
Navigator Research said that after opponents of the tax and undecided respondents were told what a marginal tax rate is, support for Ocasio-Cortez's proposal rose by 7 points to a total of 55% overall. x
Oddly but not unexpectedly, support for the marginal tax rate is higher among Democrats (who are mainly pro-poor) and lowest among Republicans (who are pro-rich).
Only 39 percent of Republicans support the tax hike on the ultra-wealthy while 50 percent of Republicans opposed it. On the other hand, 73 percent of Democrats supported the tax hike. Independents, who account for most of America's voting population, approved of the idea by 47 percent.
Navigator Research said this new poll demonstrates once again the conventional wisdom about not taxing the super-wealthy is not only outdated but is "out of step with what the American people actually want."
Navigator's finding is similar to other recent surveys. A survey by INSIDER last month found that 38 percent of Americans support Ocasio-Cortez's marginal tax rate hike. Other recent surveys found that nearly 60 percent of voters (and 45% of Republicans) are in favor of the tax hile.
In fact, Ocasio-Cortez's proposal is generally more popular than the 2017 Republican tax cuts.
According to an October Gallup poll, 39% of Americans approved of the tax cuts, while 46% disapproved. And 51% of respondents said the tax cuts hadn't yet helped them financially.
"I do think a system that allows billionaires to exist when there are parts of Alabama where people are still getting ringworm because they don't have access to public health is wrong," said Ocasio-Cortez, the youngest woman ever to serve in the United States Congress.
The Tax Policy Center said that during the period from 1957 through the 1970s when the tax rate was at 70% or higher, the economy was stronger than it is today. The data also suggests a correlation between the record-low economic growth of the last decade and the historically low tax rates on the wealthiest Americans.
