AOC's Wealth Tax Proposal Gets Dismantled by Argentinian Lawmaker During Munich Conference
An Argentinian lawmaker set Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York straight when the Democratic socialist spoke longingly about her desire to impose a wealth tax in the United States.
A moderator asked Ocasio-Cortez, who made her debut at the Munich Security Conference in Germany over the weekend, “When you run for president, are you going to impose a wealth tax or a billionaires tax?”
“I don’t think… we have to wait for any one president to impose a wealth tax. I think that it needs to be done expeditiously,” the Democratic socialist lawmaker responded.
CNBC reported in 2019 that AOC floated the idea of a 70 percent federal marginal tax rate for those earning $10 million in income and above.
.@AOC‘s plan to raise taxes on the richest to 70% won’t bring in much revenue. We’ve had 70% (even 90%) top tax rates before…yet government revenue as a share of the economy has been relatively steady. That’s because the rich find loopholes in high tax rates, or just work less pic.twitter.com/BjhlSXRKoF
— John Stossel (@JohnStossel) April 7, 2019
The current top marginal tax rate is 37 percent for anyone earning just over $626,000 and above. Depending on where they live, those individuals also pay state and local taxes that can take their tax burden up to approximately 50 percent of their income.
CBS News reported that wealthier residents in New York City, where AOC’s district is located, pay a combined tax rate of 52 percent already. The state tax rate is 10.3 percent for those earning above $5 million and 10.9 percent for those earning over $25 million.
Argentinian lawmaker Daiana Fernández Molero countered Ocasio-Cortez’s belief that a wealth tax is a good thing while speaking at the Munich Security Conference.
“You have the recipe that many Latin American countries applied, many, many times, that is some relief for the short term, but ended up being a tragedy for the future,” she said.
AOC in Munich giggles excitedly when asked if she will impose a wealth tax as president. Moments later, her ignorance is exposed by Argentinian politician Daiana Fernández Molero, who has actually seen the destruction caused by a wealth tax. pic.twitter.com/FQn6iEtxTC
— Tudor Dixon (@TudorDixon) February 16, 2026
With a wealth tax, Molero said, “wealth goes away and you have just the tax and you don’t have wealth anymore.” In other words, wealthy individuals leave. The states of California and New York have experienced this by imposing high tax rates on their wealthiest residents.
Attorney and legal scholar Jonathan Turley noted that, by some estimates, California has seen a $1 trillion wealth exodus due to its marginal income tax rate of 13.3 percent — the highest rate in the nation. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is the most recent example, joining Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and others from the Golden State who have moved to Florida.
Zuckerberg’s move comes as California considers a new 5 percent one-time wealth tax on the net worth of its richest residents, on top of their personal income taxes, Fox Business reported.
A maxim in taxation is that whatever you tax more, you get less of, be it billionaires and all the jobs they create, or anything else.
“All these recipes create a cycle… You have this short-term relief, then goes inflation, shortage, then you have more poverty, and the cycle goes and goes,” Molero explained.
Such was the case in Argentina, where chronic fiscal deficits led the government to print massive amounts of money to pay for the deficit, causing the devaluation of the currency and inflation to surpass 200 percent by 2024.
Libertarian Javier Milei, who was elected in November 2023 to tackle inflation, managed to get the nation back toward fiscal sanity by slashing government spending and dismantling socialist policies instituted by the nation’s former president, Juan Domingo Perón, according to the Cato Institute.
He has brought the inflation rate down to an annual rate of 31 percent as of 2025, Reuters reported.
Argentina has also posted a budget surplus for the last two years.
The United States got a small taste of what massive deficit spending, primarily fueled by Democratic transfer of wealth programs, was like during the Biden administration.
Inflation began to increase after President Joe Biden signed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan into law in March 2021, as the economy was already well on its way to recovery.
The inflation rate was 1.4 percent when President Donald Trump left office in January 2021. It averaged 1.9 percent during his entire four years in office, among the lowest of any president going back to Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s.
The month after the America Rescue Plan was passed and hundreds of billions were borrowed, inflation went up to 4.2 percent and continued until it spiked at 9.1 percent in June 2022.
Trump celebrated the news last week of inflation declining to 2.4 percent as his administration slashed the deficit by $600 billion in 2025.
Let Argentina, Venezuela, and even California serve as cautionary tales.
Reject AOC’s envy-based “sock it to tax the rich” siren song and allow people to continue to pursue the American dream to their fullest potential.
It’s what is best for them and society as a whole, with the many opportunities they create for others.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
