This week, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) came up with the best reason to tax billionaires: They do not actually exist.<\/p>\n
On a podcast, Ocasio-Cortez declared with all the certainty of a freshman in a Smith College political science course that the notion of a self-made billionaire is simply a fantasy, because \u201cyou just can\u2019t earn\u201d a billion dollars. It is only the latest in a series of socialist fables that are being dressed up as economic facts.<\/p>\n
The difference is that this fable, if told often enough, could become true.<\/p>\n
In suggesting that true billionaires are a capitalist myth, Ocasio-Cortez is suggesting that people like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos really did not earn their wealth and, therefore, it is really not their money.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a certain level of wealth and accumulation that is unearned,\u201d she said<\/a>. \u201cYou can\u2019t earn a billion dollars. You just can\u2019t earn that. You can get market power, you can break rules, you can abuse labor laws, you can pay people less than what they\u2019re worth, but you can\u2019t earn that.\u201d<\/p>\n In other words, you can only make a billion dollars through theft and exploitation rather than actual entrepreneurial enterprise. This statement comes as support builds for the California billionaires\u2019 tax which, even before it has a chance to pass in November, has already cost the state trillions<\/a>\u00a0due to an exodus of these billionaires.<\/p>\n In my book, \u201cRage and the Republic,<\/a>\u201d I discuss common myths spread by the left to fuel economic factionalism. One common myth is that the \u201cwealthy do not pay their fair share of taxes.\u201d In truth, the top ten percent of taxpayers pay the vast majority of taxes in the U.S. In the book, I also dispel the claim that most millionaires inherited their wealth or came from privileged backgrounds.<\/p>\n These myths are designed to make redistribution schemes more palatable. And Democrats are ramping up the \u201ceat-the-rich\u201d rhetoric ahead of the midterms in pushing both millionaire and billionaire taxes. Democrats from Washington to Virginia are pushing millionaire taxes, and the mere conversation has already set off a stampede of high-earning taxpayers to red states like Texas and Florida, which have no state income tax.<\/p>\n It was also evident in this week\u2019s California gubernatorial debate. Candidate Katie Porter (D) said she opposes<\/a> the billionaire\u2019s tax because it would not go far enough. Porter then pressed the only billionaire in the group, Tom Steyer, who has been moving to the far left<\/a> to grab voters in the wake of the departure of former Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) as a candidate. Steyer said that he supports the billionaire tax but would want to go even further.<\/p>\n Steyer has spent a fortune of his own money on this race, apparently to convince Democratic primary voters that he is some kind of red billionaire in the mold of a George Soros or Neville Roy Singham. Good luck with that \u2014 after spending roughly $150 million of his own money, Steyer is still languishing between 12 and 18 percent support.<\/p>\n Of course, Steyer was not asked if he believes that real billionaires such as himself exist. Yet he has already apologized for making considerable money on private prisons, including those used to hold undocumented immigrants.<\/p>\n Ironically, in finance, a \u201cunicorn\u201d is a company worth more than $1 billion dollars, a term coined by venture capitalist Aileen Lee to capture the rare and almost magical status of such enterprises.<\/p>\n Conversely, Ocasio-Cortez\u2019s unicorn myth is part of a\u00a0general denial of economic realities<\/a>\u00a0that has taken hold on the left. The cost of these policies is borne by workers, who are being left to eat soundbites.<\/p>\n Democrats have sold voters on\u00a0raising minimum wages\u00a0as high as $30 per hour, even though such policies cost thousands of jobs. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg bragged about blocking a merger of JetBlue and Spirit Airlines, claiming that it would create cheaper flights and better jobs. Spirit has now been forced to close its doors, causing the loss of thousands of flights and jobs.<\/p>\n A rising generation of voters is eagerly devouring soundbites and promises of the \u201cwarmth of collectivism\u201d from figures like New York\u2019s socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani. From\u00a0promises of free buses to state-run grocery stores, voters are buying the same threadbare socialist schtick.<\/p>\n That was on display this week as socialist Seattle mayor Katie Wilson laughed when asked about the millionaires fleeing the city<\/a> over rising taxes and crime. She delighted the crowd by mocking the departing millionaires with two words: \u201cLike, bye!\u201d<\/p>\n The last laugh, however, rests with those fleeing a city facing a\u00a0projected deficit<\/a>\u00a0of $114 million. As Wilson faces major cuts in the city budget, she gleefully mocks those whose tax dollars the city will desperately need to close this gap if it is to maintain public services.<\/p>\n Ironically, Wilson and other Democrats are quickly making their myth a reality. Soon, there will be no billionaire unicorns roaming the land. Even millionaires may become scarce, as these wealthy citizens move to less hostile states with less delusional leaders.<\/p>\n The solution to this exodus is equally predictable. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who has campaigned for a billionaire tax in his state while representing Silicon Valley, has also joined with socialist Bernie Sanders to\u00a0push for a national billionaire\u2019s tax<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 an effort to guarantee that there is no place to hide. This is the same approach that tanked the French economy under Fran\u00e7ois Mitterrand after the wealthy fled that nation.<\/p>\n These are not, however, a time for economics or history. It is the time of fables. Ocasio-Cortez has thrived in the land of socialist unicorns. She can even attend the ultra-rich Met Gala wearing an expensive\u00a0\u201cEat-the-Rich\u201d gown<\/a>.<\/p>\n Like her dress, it is fashionable to deny that billionaires created their wealth. It is your money for the taking. The result is that billionaires and even millionaires in states like New York may go the way of unicorns, fanciful creatures that once thrived in a land of jobs and growth.<\/p>\n Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the best-selling author of \u201cRage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution<\/a>.\u201c<\/p>\n Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n