Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) was rightfully ripped for attending the Met Gala in New York City in a white dress with “tax the rich” plastered all over it. The stunt was insanely transparent. The lack of self-awareness appalling. This is America. You can hate whoever you like. You can hate the rich, just don’t make that your political schtick and then go to literally the ritziest party that the upper crust holds. An individual ticket costs $30-35,000. If you want a table at this shindig, be prepared to fork over $275,000. The rich pay these fees and then write them off on their taxes. It’s a tax haven event, as Megan McArdle noted in the aftermath of this stunt. The rich fork over money to pal around with other rich people and celebrities. On top of that, AOC’s dressmaker is a tax deadbeat, according to The New York Post:
Designer Aurora James called her “Tax the Rich” dress for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez a “powerful message” — but it’s not one she has taken to heart.
The 37-year-old fashionista who made waves at the Met Gala with Democratic-Socialist AOC last week is a notorious tax deadbeat with unpaid debts dogging her in multiple states, records show.
Most of luxe-living James’ arrears center on Cultural Brokerage Agency, an LLC she formed in 2011 to serve as the parent company of her fashion brand, which today is known as Brother Vellies. It’s a favorite of people like Beyoncé, Rihanna, and Meghan Markle.
The company racked up three open tax warrants in New York state for failing to withhold income taxes from employees’ paychecks totaling $14,798, the state Department of Taxation and Finance told The Post. The debts — which were incurred before the pandemic — stem from 2018 and 2019. The company has been hit with 15 warrants in total since 2015.
The company got into a deeper hole with the feds. Between April 2018 and April 2019, the Internal Revenue Service placed six federal liens on Cultural Brokerage Agency totaling $103,220. The liens specifically cite the company’s failure to remit employee payroll taxes.
The IRS declined to comment on their current status.
We’ve all heard this story. Socialists love to live high on the hog but don’t want to pay for it. Will this hurt AOC? No—her followers won’t leave her over this, but for those who aren’t communists—it probably will elicit some eye rolls. It’s just a bad look. She’s out of place. These aren’t really her people. Sure, it’s filled with folks who pay a lot of lip service to her message because super-rich people will remain wealthy no matter who runs the country and can say whatever they want—but this isn’t her crowd at all. I’m sure she had a good time partying with the people she wants the government to consume though.