Democratic Socialist champion Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has continuously advocated for a higher tax burden on everyone, including poorer Americans and the middle class, via taxes they'd be required to pay to fund her universal Medicare plan dreams.
But a review of public records undertaken by the Crimson Hub shows that even when Ocasio-Cortez was taking a salary from her campaign during the 2018 cycle when she was first elected to Congress, property tax bills for the condo AOC occupied in the Bronx were not being billed to the soon-to-be congresswoman.
In fact, those bills were being sent to the celebrity politician’s mother, who remained legally responsible for them. It suggests that even while paying herself out of campaign donor money, AOC was quietly relying on Mom's bank account to cover costs.
At the time of her first campaign, AOC was close to thirty — despite becoming the youngest-ever female Member of Congress when sworn into office in 2019.
But throughout the period, property taxes on the Bronx condo were being sent to her mother, who — like many New Yorkers since — had already moved to budget-friendlier Florida. Nowadays, as then, AOC’s mother lives in a house that could charitably be described as “modest” in Eustis.
In May 2016, a property tax lien for $4,713.17 was sold by the City of New York to Tower Capital Management LLC. The bill to Tower Capital was paid before they could auction the property for past-due bills.
Even after having lived through years of unpaid property taxes and a lien being placed on the property, a 2019 public records search also indicated tax liens on the Bronx property for non-payment of condo fees.
The timeline suggests that AOC and her boyfriend, Riley Roberts, who was himself paid by a PAC supporting her 2018 campaign, were skirting bills legally due. It raises more than question, both about their ability to “adult” (as her generation says) and more importantly, the capacity for people in their then-financial circumstances to shell out higher taxes like those the congresswoman now wants to impose on others.
Of note, congressional disclosures show that AOC has always been a relatively less well-off Member of Congress, with little in the way of assets registered in her name, suggesting that at least at the outset of her political career, she would have been living beyond her means.
Today, Ocasio-Cortez no longer lives at the condo. She has instead relocated to a three-bedroom, two-bath Elmhurst apartment that was last listed for rent in 2022 for $3,200 a month.
According to Zillow, the unit boasts a granite countertop, a marble bathroom, and a private balcony.
The Bronx condo she lived in during her congressional campaign appears to now be occupied by her brother, Gabriel. The tax bills for the apartment continue to be sent to the their mother, not Gabriel, who is in his early thirties.
Gabriel is an avowed anti-capitalist like his sister, and is founder of an arts organization “supporting the deaf queer community.”
Despite having reported a $4,597 per month salary as a housing specialist at Samaritan Daytop Village in Briarwood, NY, back in 2022, he declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy, making him another Ocasio-Cortez kid living, or at least spending, beyond his means.
It is not clear to what degree AOC has helped Gabriel financially, though as a Member of Congress, she earns $174,000 per year, and presumably is equipped to help her brother in covering costs, including any property tax bills.
Still, the pair's mother remains on the hook for those tax bills, not the kids who actually occupied the Bronx unit.
While AOC’s family is decidedly less wealthy fellow Socialist, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's, public records still paint a picture of her and her brother as fully-grown hipster leftist adults who, despite having university degrees and income streams, appear to have continued to rely on The Bank of Mom to cover costs.
That lifestyle certainly appears to have left their mother living in somewhat less comfortable accommodationS in a state that is often attacked by Democrats for its conservative governance, but which offers lower costs of living than longtime progressive-run New York City. That's something of a "vot"e in favor of Florida by way of her feet, so to speak.
As for AOC and her brother, it's unclear how they think regular working people are supposed to afford the tax hikes she wants to use for Medicare, since neither of them seem to have shown such financial wherewithal over the years.
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