Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez responded to a Republican congressman’s 70 percent tax joke about the Patriots
"The average NFL salary is $2.1 million, so most players would never experience a 70% rate."
A new poll released Monday found that a majority of voters support Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s proposed wealth tax, while a solid plurality support the 70 percent tax on income over $10 million that was recently floated by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Warren and Ocasio-Cortez say the proposals are intended to reduce economic inequality and fund progressive proposals like Medicare for All and a Green New Deal. But one can only imagine what their support numbers would look like in the 44 non-New England states if they were used to reduce NFL inequality.
Following the Patriots’ sixth Super Bowl win in 18 seasons Sunday night, Rep. Dan Crenshaw suggested as much.
The Texas Republican — who got national attention last fall after he was mocked on (and subsequently appeared on) “Saturday Night Live” — jokingly asked if someone should “propose a 70% tax on the Patriots so that NFL competition is more fair and equal?”
Should someone propose a 70% tax on the Patriots so that NFL competition is more fair and equal? Asking for a friend.
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) February 4, 2019
“Asking for a friend,” tweeted Crenshaw, who has previously criticized the idea of raising top marginal income tax rates.
In response, Ocasio-Cortez took her fellow freshman House member’s joke literally. While the NFL’s top-earners, like Tom Brady and Aaron Donald, might have annual salaries that surpass the $10 million threshold, she noted that her proposal wouldn’t actually affect most of the league’s players.
“The average NFL salary is $2.1 million, so most players would never experience a 70% rate,” wrote the New York Democrat.
The average NFL salary is $2.1 million, so most players would never experience a 70% rate.
The owners who refuse to hire Kaepernick would, though. https://t.co/AnST2lCiU9
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 4, 2019
Ocasio-Cortz went on to note that the NFL’s billionaire owners, who she blamed for the alleged blackballing of former San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick, “would, though.”
Whether or not NFL owners would actually be affected by Ocasio-Cortez’s proposed tax hike would depend on how much of their wealth comes though annual income, as opposed to earnings from investments and stock holdings.
But she’s not the first Democrat to take aim at the elite group. Last month, Warren — whose proposed tax on individual net worth would apply to all assets over $50 million — called out Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder
