Ocasio-Cortez ‘Tired’ ‘of Being Told Free College, Medicare for All Are Handouts

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., campaigns for Democratic presidential candidate Sen
AP Photo/Nati Harnik
Hannah Knudsen

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) told a group of supporters over the weekend she is “tired” of being told free college and Medicare for All are handouts, arguing “nobody else is giving us a damn thing.”

“I’m tired of this idea that Medicare for All and tuition-free public colleges are some handout from somebody else,” she told the crowd.

“Nobody else is giving us a damn thing,” she said to applause. “We build this on our own. We fund it. We establish it. We fight for it. We create it. And no one should be able to take it away from us as they have been. So that’s that on that”:

However, Ocasio-Cortez’s claim – that “nobody else is giving us a damn thing” – is false and contradicted by the presidential candidate she endorsed.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has said repeatedly he will fund his massive proposals, such as “free” college and Medicare for All, by targeting the wealthy with an aggressive redistribution scheme.

Sanders has proposed to implement a one percent tax on couples with a net worth over $32 million, with the percentage increasing alongside the value of assets:

The tax rate would increase to 2 percent on net worth from $50 to $250 million, 3 percent from $250 to $500 million, 4 percent from $500 million to $1 billion, 5 percent from $1 to $2.5 billion, 6 percent from $2.5 to $5 billion, 7 percent from $5 to $10 billion, and 8 percent on wealth over $10 billion.

Sanders has not tried to hide the goal of his extreme wealth tax, proudly explaining his proposal would cut the wealth of billionaires “in half over 15 years.”

“There should be no billionaires,” Sanders wrote in a tweet, touting his extreme wealth tax proposal. “We are going to tax their extreme wealth and invest in working people”:

“If we make the top 0.1% pay their fair share in taxes, their quality of life would not change at all. But we would be able to invest in housing, child care and health care and improve the lives of millions of working people,” Sanders wrote in a tweet, reaffirming that he would tax wealthy individuals in an exorbitant manner in order to pay for his costly programs. The admission directly contradicts Ocasio-Cortez, who told her town hall crowd that “nobody else is giving us a damn thing.”

“We build this on our own. We fund it,” she said – another statement contradicted by her own candidate.

Sanders has also admitted that middle class taxes will increase in order to fund Medicare for All. A Locust Street Group commissioned by the Partnership for America’s Health Care Future in August found that the majority of Americans, 64 percent, are not willing to pay more in taxes in exchange for Medicare for All.

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