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AOC constituents not happy after Democrats remove billionaire tax hike in so-called inflation bill

August 10, 2022 | | Print Article

Even Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s far-left followers are unhappy with the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, albeit for reasons quite dissimilar from the ones offered up by conservatives.

Conservatives dislike the bill because it hikes taxes, increases energy costs, attacks the manufacturing industry, beefs up the IRS, and is expected to exacerbate inflation.

Speaking with Fox News, some of Ocasio-Cortez’s constituents said the bill doesn’t hike taxes enough, particularly on billionaires.

Listen:

“The billionaires are the people with the power to really change whatever it is that we’re trying to change. We shouldn’t vote for it if that’s something that’s not being addressed,” one constituent, Daniel, said.

He was speaking specifically about a “carried interest” rule in the Inflation Reduction Act that was removed thanks to last-minute demands from Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz.

“The legislation at one point included language that would have effectively raised taxes for the richest in the country by changing rules for carried interest, but was removed to secure Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s vote,” Fox News reported.

Interestingly, Sinema made no similar demands about the tax hikes that the bill imposes on all other Americans.

“If they’re not going to pay their share … I think that’s definitely something that needs to be tweaked in the bill,” Daniel added, explaining that he doesn’t think Democrats should vote for the bill unless the loophole is removed.

But another constituent, Paul, wasn’t as concerned about taxing billionaires.

“Passing a bill for environment—anything that would help climate change, I’m for it. If the rich get a break, big deal,” he said.

“Climate change is something that’s gone ignored for far too long. If there are places where you have to compromise in order to get change done efficiently and quickly, I think it’s just something that we have to take on right now,” a third constituent, Max, said.

The so-called Inflation Reduction Act uses much of the revenue earned from taxing everyday Americans to fund/subsidize climate change initiatives.

However, these initiatives aren’t even expected to help the climate that much, if at all:

“I don’t really trust anything that the government has going on when it comes to the climate or when it comes to really anything,” a fourth constituent, Zion, said, adding that politicians have already “failed humanity” vis-a-vis climate change.

He also said that he’s lost faith in the government’s ability to help everyday Americans.

Regarding the bills that politicians pass, he said, “It’s always going to be for the betterment and the protection of people who are at a higher social and economic status than people like myself and people that reside in this area.”

Fact-check: TRUE.

For instance, the bill includes a lavish electric vehicle subsidy that only the wealthy are expected to be able to exploit.

“For the average American an EV is a luxury item, even with Uncle Sam kicking in $7,500 dollars if all requirements are met, it’s a reach these days. It’s like giving everyone a thousand dollar gift card to the Rolex store, great, but where do we get the other 9 grand?” columnist David Marcus notes in a piece for Fox News.

A fifth constituent, Tom, was the only one who sounded like he may have some conservative bona fides.

“The whole bill is a mess. It’s a feel-good bill so the Democrats can say they did something and maybe they won’t do so badly in the upcoming elections,” he said.

That sounded about right. The irony, of course, is that the bill does nothing for the working class, as noted by Sen. Marco Rubio in a Senate floor speech this past weekend.

“There isn’t a single thing in this bill that helps working people lower the prices of groceries, or the price of gasoline, or the price of housing, or the price of clothing. There isn’t a single thing in this bill that’s gonna keep criminals in jail. There isn’t a single thing in this bill that’s going to secure our border. Those happen to be things that working people in this country care about,” he said.

Even Sen. Bernie Sanders, an Independent, has complained about the bill doing nothing for Americans.

“At a time when the United States has the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major nation on earth, does this bill extend the $300 a month per child tax credit that existed last year? No, it doesn’t,” he said in his own recent floor speech.

“If you are a parent today paying $15,000 a year for childcare, the average cost in America, does this bill reform our dysfunctional childcare system, make it affordable, and pay childcare workers decent wages? No, it doesn’t.”

Yet despite the senator’s complaints, he ultimately voted for the bill last week. Rubio, on the other hand, stuck to his guns and voted “no” …

Vivek Saxena
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