Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has drawn plenty of criticism over a speech she delivered to the predominately black audience at Al Sharpton’s National Action Network event in New York — but it was a panelist at the event that the dealt the New York Democrat her strongest blow.
The freshman congresswoman championed the push against Amazon’s proposed new headquarters in New York, a move that president and chief investment officer of Advent Capital Management, Tracy Maitland, said showed that she and others like her are “financially illiterate.”
AOC sends Amazon out
“The people campaigning against the Amazon campus are financially illiterate,” Maitland told the crowd during a panel discussion titled “The Black Economic Agenda: Driving Capital into the Hands of Black Asset managers and Housing Developers.”
Maitland later told the New York Post: “This was a disgrace. I partially blame AOC for the loss of Amazon. She doesn’t know what she doesn’t know. That’s scary. We have to make sure she’s better educated or vote her out of office.”
Another panelist in that discussion, City University of New York (CUNY) chairman Bill Thompson, also complained that jobs had been “snatched away” from New York residents with the cancellation of the Amazon deal.
“We were at the table talking to Amazon on how students could get jobs… Those opportunities were snatched away,” Thompson said. “Those students look like us… We’re talking thousands of high-paying jobs. It was a disappointment from a CUNY perspective.”
Tax credits vs. tax subsidies
For his part, Maitland took particular exception to how Ocasio-Cortez and others were either mistaken about — or purposely mischaracterized — the $3 billion in tax incentives the city and state of New York had offered Amazon to build a headquarters in Queens.
Folks like Ocasio-Cortez falsely portrayed the $3 billion as taxpayer money that would have been given to Amazon as a subsidy, when in reality, Amazon would merely have been awarded $3 billion in tax credits — that is, Amazon would’ve been let off the hook for $3 billion in taxes they would have owed, in the hopes that the company would reinvest the money back into the business.
That credit could have created an estimated 25,000 new jobs, which would have generated an estimated $30 billion in additional tax revenue over time.
Gotham’s new villain
Ocasio-Cortez was most certainly a driving force behind the activist effort to kill the Amazon deal.
But it remains unclear if she purposely mischaracterized the offered tax credits to malign the proposed deal or simply doesn’t understand the difference between tax credits and tax subsidies.
If the former, then she truly is a “villain” — as a recent poll of disappointed New Yorkers called her — but if the latter, then she is indeed “financially illiterate” and not fit to be a member of Congress who makes decisions on how the nation spends its money.
521 Responses
A round of applause for your post.Really thank you!
Very neat post.Really thank you! Awesome.
I cannot thank you enough for the article post.Thanks Again. Great.
Thanks for the post.Much thanks again. Really Great.
I appreciate you sharing this blog.Much thanks again. Cool.
Appreciate you sharing, great blog.Really thank you! Keep writing.
Thanks for the blog post. Much obliged.
I really enjoy the blog. Want more.
Very good article post.Really looking forward to read more. Really Great.
I appreciate you sharing this post.Really looking forward to read more. Awesome.
I am curious to find out what blog system you happen to be utilizing? I’m having some small security issues with my latest website and I would like to find something more safeguarded. Do you have any solutions?
Appreciate you sharing, great blog post. Cool.
I appreciate you sharing this blog article.Much thanks again. Want more.
I really like and appreciate your blog article.Thanks Again. Fantastic.
Muchos Gracias for your article post.Really thank you! Great.
Say, you got a nice post.Much thanks again. Want more.
Thanks for sharing, this is a fantastic post.Really looking forward to read more. Keep writing.
Wow, great blog article.Thanks Again. Really Cool.
I am really impressed along with your writing abilities as smartly as with the layout for your blog. Is this a paid subject or did you customize it yourself? Either way keep up the excellent quality writing, it is rare to see a nice weblog like this one these days..
This is one awesome article. Will read on…
Hey there, You’ve done a great job. I will certainly digg it and in my view suggest to my friends. I am confident they’ll be benefited from this website.
Very neat blog article.Much thanks again. Really Cool.
great points altogether, you simply gained a new reader. What would you recommend in regards to your post that you made some days ago? Any positive?
Major thankies for the blog.Much thanks again. Really Great.
Really appreciate you sharing this blog post.Really looking forward to read more. Keep writing.
Thanks for the blog post.Thanks Again. Cool.
I really liked your blog post. Really Cool.
Whats Taking place i’m new to this, I stumbled upon this I have found It absolutely helpful and it has aided me out loads. I am hoping to contribute & aid different customers like its aided me. Good job.
I do accept as true with all of the concepts you’ve offered to your post. They are very convincing and will certainly work. Still, the posts are too brief for beginners. May just you please extend them a bit from subsequent time? Thank you for the post.
F*ckin tremendous things here. Im very glad to see your article. Thanks a lot and i am looking forward to contact you. Will you please drop me a e-mail?
Very neat blog post.Much thanks again. Cool.
Thanks for sharing, this is a fantastic blog article.Really thank you! Will read on…
I really like this website , and hope you will write more ,thanks a lot for your information.
Fantastic blog post.Really thank you! Really Great.
Very good article post.Really looking forward to read more. Will read on…
Very good post.Really looking forward to read more. Will read on…
I think this is a real great blog.Really thank you! Want more.
Very informative post.Really thank you! Really Great.
I cannot thank you enough for the article.
Great site. Lots of helpful info here. Im sending it to some friends ans also sharing in delicious. And of course, thanks on your sweat!