Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.) on Tuesday night deflected a question on whether she supports a Democratic colleague's proposal to implement a top marginal tax rate of 70 percent on the wealthy.
Tlaib, the first Palestinian-American elected to Congress, appeared on CNN's "OutFront," where she answered questions about her recent call to "impeach the motherfucker," referring to President Donald Trump, and whether she supports Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's (D., N.Y.) tax rate proposal.
"Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has floated out taxing the wealthiest in this country up to 70 percent, what she referred to as the 'tippy tops.' Would you support that?" host Erin Burnett asked.
Tlaib said the United States needs to get to the point where everyone pays their "fair share," but she did not say whether she agrees with Ocasio-Cortez.
"I have the third-poorest congressional district in the country, and we need to get to a point where we all pay our fair share," she said. "Too many families are hungry. Too many families are suffering because inequality in education funding."
"All of that from public education to a number of issues that I think are really important to our country, but we can take care of that later," Tlaib continued. "We need to focus on this [government] shutdown."
CNN host Anderson Cooper asked Ocasio-Cortez during CBS' "60 Minutes" over the weekend for a specific tax rate to pay for her "Green New Deal", prompting her to say that she is looking to the 1960s for inspiration.
You look at our tax rates back in the '60s, and when you have a progressive tax rate system, your tax rate, let's say from $0-$75,000 may be 10 percent or 15 percent, et cetera, but once you get to like the tippy tops, on your 10 millionth dollar, sometimes you see tax rates as high as 60 or 70 percent. That doesn't mean all $10 million are taxed at an extremely high rate, but it means that as you climb up this ladder you should be contributing more.