Newly unearthed reports from socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s past show that the progressive political candidate had very different views on taxes when she used to run a business.
Ocasio-Cortez, who is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, has campaigned on expanding big government welfare programs through raising taxes on businesses and wealthy Americans.
Now that she is in the political spotlight, many of Ocasio-Cortez’s previous views are coming to light, particularly those surrounding raising taxes, since much of her platform revolves around taking more of people’s hard-earned money and giving it to those who did not earn it. The Daily Caller News Foundation reports:
But Ocasio-Cortez appeared to have a different outlook on capitalism and taxes in 2012 when she was running a business of her own, Brook Avenue Press, an incorporated publishing firm for children’s books set in the Bronx. As a business owner, she came out in support of a bill that would provide tax deductions for business start-up costs, arguing that taxes directly impacted her business profits.
Ocasio-Cortez complained about the burden that taxes put on her business in a 2012 news article, saying, “You don’t really make a profit in your first year,” later adding that getting taxed was “a real whammy.”
Ocasio-Cortez also used to tweet out articles and quotes from entrepreneur and venture capitalist Paul Graham:
The DCNF also notes that Ocasio-Cortez was a member of a business organization that attracted numerous entrepreneurs and gave talks on entrepreneurship at Boston University where she praised free market enterprise.
Now, with a $174,000 salary in her sights, Ocasio-Cortez is championing views that conflict with that entrepreneurial spirit she formerly promoted mainly centered around the government providing for its citizens.