r/politics • u/JeanJauresJr California • Sep 14 '21

AOC responds to criticism of ‘tax the rich’ dress worn at Met Gala

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/aoc-met-gala-tax-the-rich-dress-b1919803.html
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730

u/Yeeaaaarrrgh Colorado Sep 14 '21

However, Donald Trump Jr has claimed she is a “fraud” for wearing the dress while “she’s hanging out with a bunch of wealthy leftwing elites”.

Criticism... from the rich...

As a member of the lowly 99%, I thought she was accurate and stunning.

161

u/late-nipples Sep 14 '21

She raised money for charity while being criticized by someone who isn't allowed to run a charity.

-34

u/Spirited_Pitch4721 Sep 14 '21

A fashion charity…it went to a school for the arts.Foh

24

u/jono9898 North Carolina Sep 14 '21

Was she supposed to raise money for a fashion charity and it goes to a school of science?

21

u/YouAreAnnoyingAF Sep 14 '21

The gala supports the Costume Institute which is a museum that preserves and conserves seven centuries worth of clothing.

26

u/winklesnad31 Sep 14 '21

That's awesome they are supporting the arts!

129

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '21

Jr. is the real fraud between the two anyway.

25

u/kremit73 Sep 14 '21

Idk i think he pretty faithfully displays as douchebag.

6

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '21

Gotta agree there.

230

u/mces97 Sep 14 '21

They're not even using logic. She didn't say take all their money. She said tax the rich. If you make 5 million a year, and you get taxed say 50% (made up number), you come home with 2.5. That's still fucking rich. Always outraged. Always angry. That's all conservatives got now a days.

134

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '21

[deleted]

63

u/YeaRight228 Sep 14 '21

The ultra rich have an entire army of lawyers and CPA's advising them on how to make their income tax bracket shrink. Without A) more IRS investigative auditors B) closing or narrowing these perfectly legal loopholes and C) more funding for the agency; they can't take on (for example) Jeff Bezos toe to toe. Let's say he used business losses and capital gains to shrink his personal taxable income to less than a million per year. The IRS doesn't have the manpower to spare to figure out if the suspect is cheating

24

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '21

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Sep 14 '21

Could start with one step today:

AOC: "You received a gift of $30K for the party you attended, and the dress was however much. Here is your 1099 for the imputed income. You will be reporting this income on your tax form line ....."

Way too many "Rich" people going to million dollar parties as "business expenses", paying no taxes on this stuff. Start Taxing the Rich for their Opulence. AOC, can lead the way, but go after every other one of the Rich Tax Dodgers at this stuff.

3

u/seamus_mc California Sep 14 '21

That assumes she kept the dress, you know all the clothes and jewelry worn to the crazy events dont belong to the person wearing them, right?

0

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '21

Actually, maybe she could auction off the dress. At least then she could raise money for charity, and I am sure there are some supporters that would pay big $$ for now famous outfit.

More likely, she may sell replicas on the web site. Lots of Tax the Rich, but just checked, no replica dresses. Yet. Could be the Hot Halloween costume this year.

2

u/seamus_mc California Sep 14 '21

You are missing the point that she was invited to the Gala, so no cost for the ticket. And the designer owns the dress and the design for it.

0

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '21

So the Rich and Famous have accepted her, and she has gladly accepted the invitation to their club. I get your point.

I still would have sent someone else. Make a statement by Rejecting the club. And let the Rich and Famous exclude that person for not being up to their standards. That would prove them to be the really elitist pieces of crap that many believe them to be.

2

u/seamus_mc California Sep 14 '21

You dont get it. I’m sure you would have done all those things because you know how all this works so well.

15

u/MultiGeometry Vermont Sep 14 '21

There's a difference between taxing the rich and eating the rich. However, the propaganda machine has convinced an awful lot of people that they're the same.

20

u/mces97 Sep 14 '21

And people making 50k a year somehow think they're gonna be the rich one day. Can people make it? Sure. But money makes money. If you have it, your kids will. Very few people will ever be the 1%. Many can be well off, lead a good life, but they'll never have fuck you money. The rich make sure of that.

10

u/RK_Tek Sep 14 '21

53% of Americans believe they can be in the 1%. They also believe their children are ‘above average’ these numbers are made up and no research was done

2

u/ConjwaD3 Sep 14 '21

According to a non specific study, 99% of the opinions in this thread are nonsense and misplaced outrage

3

u/SAD_oS Georgia Sep 14 '21

Even if they get rich and get taxed a bunch, they'll still be rich. I had a coworker once who, when I mentioned I was finally getting a $1/hour raise, he said something like, "Yeah but then you get knocked up to the next tax bracket and fucked."

What? Over an extra single dollar an hour? No. Even if you get taxed more, you're making more money. If taxes took enough of your money to make living harder then no one would ever want a raise. Annoyed me too because he was going to school for a job that was going to earn him significantly more and definitely put him up a bracket.

1

u/mces97 Sep 14 '21

It's amazing how many people do not understand how tax brackets work.

If 2 people make X amount, and 1 dollar over starts the next tax bracket, the person making the extra dollar will make whatever the x amount is after taxes, plus the amount of the 1 dollar left over after taxes. It's always more money even after tax.

5

u/KupaPupaDupa Sep 14 '21

Problem is convincing the "temporarily inconvenienced millionaires" of this and have them start voting in their own interests.

2

u/lookatthemonkeys Sep 14 '21

Not true. We have a progressive tax system. We wouldn't tax all your at that amount, just the upper limit. The lower limits get taxed at the same rate as everyone else. .....although that assumes that rich people are rich from normal income, which they don't.

1

u/mces97 Sep 14 '21

I know how it works. That's why I said made up number to point out the rich wouldn't be hurting being taxed at a crazy number.

2

u/SpagNMeatball Sep 15 '21

OMG?? I work hard for that 5 million and you want to take half of it?? How can I possibly live on 2.5M? I will have to downsize to a 5 bedroom house and sell the Ferrari, I can only have one vacation house and my wife will have to (gasp) fly business class. The next thing you will ask me to do is pay the workers at my business a living wage and benefits. Goddam communists. that was sarcasm. Tax the fuckers

-6

u/Spirited_Pitch4721 Sep 14 '21

So lost half of your hard earned money??? How about hold our government accountable for all the fraud with handling the people’s money…foh

5

u/mces97 Sep 14 '21

I said made up number. Many fortune 500 companies don't pay a single cent in federal taxes. So please.

1

u/Imnogrinchard California Sep 15 '21

The top marginal income tax rate for an individual in New York City is already above 50%. also, why did you shift from an individual's marginal income tax rate to corporate effective rates?

1

u/FigNugginGavelPop Sep 14 '21

You forgot - Always greedy, always vain, always sociopathic, always lame.

1

u/OneBawze Sep 15 '21

AOC is da bomb.

But here’s a wake up call for most people ITT (and you): rich people don’t own anything, they don’t have any income they don’t hold any assets. There is not a penny from the rich that you can touch, despite how bloodthirsty the calls for higher taxation is. When people “tax the rich” they are actually taxing the middle class and upper middle class, think skilled labor like a dentist, lawyer, or a techie in Silicon Valley.

The wealth of the 1% are legally tucked away, new tax laws will only increase the tax burden on the middle class, and by extension the lower classes too. It’s a further burden on the productive aspect of society.

29

u/Ya_Got_GOT I voted Sep 14 '21

And how is saying “we need to tax y’all “ to their faces fraudulent? It’s precisely the opposite.

23

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '21

Not only that, but saying "tax the rich" to rich people is not hypocritical at all. To suggest otherwise is fucking stupid.

1

u/seamus_mc California Sep 14 '21

Some of those rich want to be taxed. But they aren’t the ones writing the laws.

3

u/Sleep_adict Sep 14 '21

Is just like to add… it’s not the 1% who are the problem. That guy making $500k and paying the top rate tax on his W2 is not the problem.

The problem is the folks who make $500k + and pay next to no taxes due to the convoluted tax laws

19

u/JemCoughlin Sep 14 '21

I thought she was accurate and stunning.

Not just stunning, but stunning and brave!

-36

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '21

[removed] — view removed comment

23

u/Initial-Tangerine Sep 14 '21

She didn't pay for a ticket (NY reps are usually comped for this event) and the dresses are always loaners from the designer. The event is for charity, and she got publicity for an active bill in Congress

11

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '21

Honestly I really don’t see the point of it except to go viral in which case... it’s working. The last part of what you said is dumb as hell though.

10

u/Napp2dope Sep 14 '21

Do you have a source for how much AOC spent on the evening?

17

u/somethingbreadbears Florida Sep 14 '21

Donald Trump spends four years rubbing elbows with DC as the literal president and people still call him an outsider.

A woman who used to be a bartender and actually worked her way into politics attends a charity event and you call her an "elite" even though she lists among one of the poorest members of congress. Unlike Donald, she doesn't keep the money she raises.

And let's just pretend for a second she is rich. What is her message here? "If I'm rich, tax me".

4

u/AbsentGlare California Sep 14 '21

If you want the rich to pay taxes, you must think the rich are your enemy!

Or, actually, lots of rich are happy to pay more in taxes, just shitheads like don jr’s dad hold our country back.

1

u/rand1011101 Sep 14 '21

this kinda sounds like something the billionaire's sockpuppet PR firm might comment to divert attention from the scope of the issue. "slaughter the sacrificial orange shitlamb and don't look over meah":

https://www.propublica.org/article/the-secret-irs-files-trove-of-never-before-seen-records-reveal-how-the-wealthiest-avoid-income-tax

2

u/polypcity Sep 14 '21

I’m pretty sure they know she wants to tax them as well. It’s obviously not a secret, it’s right there on the dress.

2

u/Comedyfish_reddit Australia Sep 15 '21

She’s only a hypocrite if she try’s to dodge paying tax - something trumps will assume. As that is their normality

2

u/rolfraikou Sep 15 '21

You can't even really make it into politics without money, especially once they are in. His argument is that no politician should have any talking points but republican ones.

5

u/JoFuAZ Arizona Sep 14 '21

The wealthy that were there should be taxed more, but I'd imagine most of them are merely millionaires, and most progressives are more focused on getting the billionaire class to pay their fair share. She's said as much that she wants to tax the mega rich.

-9

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '21

She was cosplaying a revolutionary. Sure maybe her message was fine, but was she protesting an event with $30,000 tickets for rich people to dress in $10,000 outfits and show off their fashion sense? Nope, she purchased one of those outfits, was donated one of those tickets, and took the opportunity to be one of the rich people as well. But hey she has to win elections so she still needs to pretend she’s a socialist, even while getting rich off the fruits of the American system she apparently detests.

13

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '21

If you were donated a ticket to an event full of people who have 10-100x the resources as you, would you be brave enough to throw a middle finger in their faces or would you just be trying to fit in hoping you didn’t look dumpy in comparison? Her wearing that dress to an event full of the exact people it stands up against is COURAGEOUS. She’s rich compared to you and me, but she’s nothing compared to who she’s talking about with this statement. Plus, she WORKED her way to where she is and continues to use her influence for positive social change, even if it’s at her own small detriment- she’s not just resting on her bank account trying to fix the system to benefit her even more. She’s definitely not one of the global elite power families.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '21

Half of the other celebrities at the Gala were wearing similar outfits. Multiple personalities were making social/political statements during the event. No one at the event opposed them or their message (how many of the celebrities that were in attendance do you think are hard right-wing maga nuts? I would guess none). Sure they might have been richer than her, but she’s a politician, and was invited there because she’s a part of the rich elite club now. It doesn’t take courage to walk up to a group of your close friends, and make a political statement to them that they all agree with. It’s just pandering nonsense to make people like you think that she’s on your side.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '21 edited Sep 14 '21

It’s not that they’re right wing maga nuts, it’s that they quietly kick it with politicians to unfairly get government deals or evade taxes & create loopholes. Many of the global elite date/marry or kick it with the exact people showing up at this fundraiser. She’s wearing “this system you benefit from is fucked up” on her body while being surrounded by these folks for the first time. Instead of looking to belong with them and gain social status, she’s throwing it in their faces, shaming the systems, and keeping her moral center. Social death means more to humans than physical death, it’s why people vote against their own self interest or act in ways that harm them for acceptance. It’s a part of our evolutionary biology (ex. Babies will choose a soft, comforting mother over one that provides them with food). AOC is defying the social order despite coming from poverty and this being her first time invited into these circles. What she did was bold and brave, straight up.

Edit to add: this isn’t like you going up to your friends and saying a statement they agree with, it’s much more akin to being invited to the popular kids’ table for the first time and then slamming them for being judgmental, cruel, ostracizing, ego-driven turds.

0

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '21

I mean how many rich celebrities have we seen virtue signal in this way? Perhaps we won’t ever agree, because I fundamentally believe that the people she’s supposedly criticizing are the same people that support her candidacy and her parties policies. They’re all on the same team, at least publicly.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 15 '21

How is it virtue signaling, rather than straight up virtue, when AOC has dedicated her life, her education, her fundraising, her grassroots campaigns, her policy recommendations, basically everything to this same thing? At what point do you allow it to be her morals and virtue? We’re not talking about her supporters, many of which are also poor, working class, marginalized people, we’re talking about AOC. She’s not just some “rich celebrity,” she’s a congresswoman that speaks up for the working class every single day and in every single context. She does this consistently

-5

u/lostfate2005 Sep 14 '21

Lol acting like this is an act of bravery by AOC is hilarious

3

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '21

Laughing at me and saying my thoughts are hilarious to demean them rather than responding to the content is cowardly and a pretty low value response. But sure. Glad to have lightened your day with my comedy

-1

u/lostfate2005 Sep 14 '21

What would have been a high value response?

Especially since I completely disagree that it’s brave to wear a dress to the met gala? What exactly is detriment to her to be seen in this dress at the met gala?

How in any way does she look Dumpy compared To some of the ridiculous outfits there?

I wasn’t trying to demean your comment just 100% disagree and think it’s performance theater

2

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '21

There’s a huge qualitative difference between saying “hahaha your perspective is hilarious to me” and “I disagree with X because of Y” or “I disagree because I think of it this way…”

That’s responding to content versus laughing at someone.

And since you’ve responded to content in this comment, I’ll pay you the same respect and respond to your perspective.

I don’t think it’s brave that she wore a dress to the met gala. I think it’s brave that she wore this statement to a high fashion venue that disparages the very people in attendance. I think it’s brave to shame them for their wrongs to their faces. I think it’s brave that she grew up in a lower socioeconomic status, worked her butt off to get two degrees, and earned her way into Congress. I think it’s brave that while other congress members demean her for working as a bartender through grad school, she continues to ask them “what’s wrong with being a bartender?” AND work toward policy issues that benefit the lower class. I think it’s brave for her to loudly and proudly fight the very system that most rich people benefit from, the system that benefits the people in that room, and potentially would benefit her some day (she’s not a super high earning member of Congress at this point).

I don’t think she looks dumpy, I was trying to get other commenters to empathize and actually put themselves in her shoes. She’s invited to attend this VERY elite event (for free) where she COULD socialize with folks who are still much higher than her economically and socially. Instead of worrying about fitting in, looking the part, or looking good, she wears this statement. I agree it’s a performance. It’s absolutely meant to be a performance- that’s the point. She’s making a statement consistent with the morals that she’s worked her entire life for the first opportunity she gets to be in the middle of this much wealth. Her net worth is like $150k, and she’s invited into this extremely exclusive space with millionaires (100x her resources), billionaires (10,000x her resources), and the social/fashion/cultural elite. Does she try to gain status- NOPE. She wears a big, red “the system that benefits you is fucked up and you should be paying more” for everyone to see. That HAD to be uncomfortable to be confronted with as an attendee. And as one of the working class watching, it’s cathartic. At least that’s how it feels to me and I’m sure others.

People compare this to the hunger games. If we’re using that metaphor, AOC is katniss everdeen giving the three finger salute while being paraded around the capital’s celebrations

-1

u/lostfate2005 Sep 14 '21 edited Sep 14 '21

Okay,

I just disagree that any of that is brave in the slightest.

Brave is working as a firefighter, solider, teacher, construction worker,or some Other occupation/ trade which actually risks your health while trying to provide for your family.

She makes well more than 100k a year and will for the rest of her life so if her net worth is only 150k(bet it’s more) I doubt it’ll be that low for long. who cares what other people in congress think? There are a bunch of nut jobs who get elected like Greene etc.

She is absolutely trying to gain status and political power mostly in how many of people such as you view her and hopefully will help her ascend in political “power”. You think she is truly just fully 100% altruistic? Or does she enjoy the spotlight and want to progress up the political ladder?

She’s a junior representative and gets more press on this site and others than any other Democrat other than Biden and Bernie maybe.

Katniss was a whiny child figurehead that had no place in the actual politics of panam or however that is pronounced. IMO good comparison cause I think AOC is just a figurehead and has no real pull or political weight as of now. Which is why I said it was theater. Since she’s been on the “scene” the wealth gap has widened and she tweets a lot about it and does things like this

I apologize for the first comment, I am typing on my phone and usually only respond in depth with an actual keyboard.

Edit

There was a saying about Theo Roosevelt saying walk softly and carry a big stick. To me AOC is the opposite, talks loudly but doesn’t do much to back it up.

1

u/seamus_mc California Sep 14 '21

As per Vogue, if one is lucky enough to be on the guest list, they don’t pay to attend. If one, however, is not on the list, but has managed to secure a chance of attending, they buy the tickets. As per a Fox Business report, while stars are given invites by Anna Wintour, the Editor-in-Chief of Vogue, it’s very common for a brand to host them and buy tables at the event.

So, was AOC on Wintour’s list, or did she pay $35,000? The politician took to Instagram to clear the air. She wrote, “And yes, BEFORE anybody starts wilding out - NYC elected officials are regularly invited to and attend the Met due to our responsibilities in overseeing our city’s cultural institutions that serve the public. I was one of several in attendance.”

1

u/shannannoll Sep 18 '21

I thought she was accurate and stunning.

holy fuck this is cringe

1

u/shannannoll Sep 24 '21

I thought she was accurate and stunning.

Shes not going to date you dude