“The View” co-host Whoopi Goldberg took issue with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s “Tax the Rich” dress that she wore earlier this week to the swanky Met Gala in her native New York City, calling the stunt “outrageous” at one point during the show on Tuesday.
Specifically, Goldberg disagreed with co-host Joy Behar’s take, who said she had no issues with the New York democratic socialist’s attire or message.
“I mean she goes into a situation where people are rich and she basically says we’re taxing you. You know? I mean, that takes courage. It takes balls to do that,” Behar said to laughter and applause from the audience.
But no one on the show noted that the congresswoman makes a salary in excess of $174,000 a year (the most recent Census data puts the average household income at $68,703, per 2019) or that the event she attended cost $35,000 per ticket, or that the dress was an expensive designer fashion in and of itself.
Without mentioning those details, Goldberg pushed back nonetheless, likely aware that both she and her fellow co-hosts, as multimillionaires, fall well into that 1 percent bracket.
“You know what freaked me out about this? I’ve been trying to figure out — because they say the 1 percent — you know how much the top 1 percent is considered?” she said.
“People who make about $421,000 a year make you part of the 1%. For me this is outrageous. You know because… Listen, in America, you’re supposed to be able to come and turn yourself into everything, you know?” Goldberg added.
Behar attempted to argue the point by claiming that income level doesn’t compare at all to the billionaire class, noting that people like Jeff Bezos are really the ones who should be paying more. Co-host Sunny Hostin then tried to steer the conversation back into fashion, but Goldberg returned to her point.
“Just know if you’re earning over $523,000, this could be a problem. They don’t know how much you do for your family. They don’t know if you’re raising your grandkids or–. I’m just saying,” she said.
“I know we got a second. I know it’s tight but this is real. The problem for me with all this is people don’t know what you’re putting in if you’re making $500,000,” Goldberg continued. “If you’re raising grandkids or taking care of parents and all kinds of stuff, then you want to take more money [in taxes]. Then you’re mad that I’m mad!”
A March analysis by the Heritage Foundation reinforced what similar, previous studies have shown: That wealthy Americans already pay the vast majority of income taxes.
“The latest government data show that in 2018, the top 1% of income earners—those who earned more than $540,000—earned 21% of all U.S. income while paying 40% of all federal income taxes. The top 10% earned 48% of the income and paid 71% of federal income taxes,” the analysis said.
As for Ocasio-Cortez, who has frequently called for raising taxes on ‘wealthy’ Americans and who was ripped for hypocrisy over her stunt, she responded to the criticism Tuesday by saying she only borrowed the dress and added that “while the Met is known for its spectacle, we should have a conversation about it.”
“But we all had a conversation about Taxing the Rich in front of the very people who lobby against it,” she wrote on her Instagram story. “I am so used to doing the same exact thing that men do — including popular male progressive elected officials — and getting a completely different response.”
AOC responds to 'Tax The Rich' dress criticism, reminds people NYC elected officials are invited to the #MetGala:
“But we all had a conversation about
Taxing the Rich in front of the very people who lobby against it, and punctured the 4th wall of excess and
spectacle.” pic.twitter.com/hQxhfwBEZP— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) September 15, 2021
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Jon is a staff writer for BizPac Review with 30 years' worth of reporting experience, as well as an author and U.S. Army veteran. He has a BA in political science from Ashford University and an MA in national security studies/intelligence analysis from American Military University.
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