Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez lashed out at policymakers in New York City for proposing a surcharge on packages ordered online.
“You know why all this backlash happens when we say ‘Tax the Rich,’” Ocasio-Cortez said on Twitter in response to the proposal. “Because the unquestionable norm is to tax the poor & working class.”
“Maybe instead of taxing people who need baby formula and essential goods, we tax those who have profited billions from a global pandemic,” the New York Democrat continued.
You know why all this backlash happens when we say “Tax the Rich?”
Because the unquestionable norm is to tax the poor & working class.
Maybe instead of taxing people who need baby formula and essential goods, we tax those who have profited billions from a global pandemic? https://t.co/daAXNMAQD0
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 8, 2020
Under a proposal from Democratic Assemblyman Robert Carroll, residents of the nation’s largest city would be required to pay a $3 surcharge on packages they ordered online, with exceptions for medicine and food.
The proposal comes as the city’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority faces a budget crisis, which Carroll said could be alleviated by raising more than $1 billion a year “to fund the operating costs of buses and subways in the city of New York.” Carroll has also called on the federal government to bail out the struggling MTA.
In an op-ed for the Daily News, Carroll and International President of the Transport Workers Union John Samuelsen argued such a tax would incentivize the city’s residents to support small local businesses instead of buying from corporations such as Amazon and Walmart.
“A delivery surcharge would incentive some consumers to patronize neighborhood businesses instead of reflexively ordering items online from Amazon, Walmart, Etsy or eBay,” the duo wrote. “They might be reminded how local mom-and-pop stores, and bigger retailers like Bloomingdales and Macy’s, are part of what makes a city dynamic, diverse and interesting. These businesses also employ our neighbors.”
The op-ed also took aim at Amazon’s business model, suggesting consumers could wait a few days for their packages instead of receiving multiple packages throughout the week.
“A delivery surcharge will also undoubtedly encourage consumers, and the Amazons of the world, to more regularly consolidate multiple items into a single package for delivery,” they wrote. “Instead of shipping someone a pair of new sneakers on Monday, a pair of socks on Wednesday and a toaster oven on Friday, Amazon could put them into one box and (gasp) make you wait a little. That’s one truck trip down your block by FedEx or UPS instead of three. Now multiply that by millions.”
The op-ed also echoed Ocasio-Cortez’s criticisms of Amazon, noting that the company’s profits are “up 53% compared to last year.”
But New York has had some of the strictest COVID-19 restrictions in the country since the spring, forcing many small businesses and retailers to close or offer limited services and sending New Yorkers to online retailers such as Amazon to fill the gap.
As of late last month, 27.8% of New York’s small businesses have permanently shut their doors after months of lockdowns and restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Carroll did not immediately respond to a Washington Examiner request for comment.
While Ocasio-Cortez was critical of the city’s proposed policy, it is unclear whether her remedy would offer any assistance to those forced to pay surcharges.
According to a 2017 Tax Foundation study, poor and working-class individuals are left with the greatest burden from increases to corporate tax rates.
“Recent empirical evidence seems to support earlier theoretical analysis that domestic U.S. labor bears the largest portion of the burden of the U.S. corporate income tax,” the study’s authors wrote. “The share of the burden falling on labor is routinely found to be between 50 percent and 100 percent, with 70 percent or higher the most likely outcome.”
