In early January, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democratic U.S representative, has proposed an idea: to raise, or nearly double, taxes for 75,000 of America’s wealthiest households. Senator Elizabeth Warren, also a member of the democratic party, has joined Cortez in her fight to tax the rich.

“By asking our top 75,000 households to pay their fair share, my proposal will help address runaway wealth concentration and at the same time accelerate badly needed investments in rebuilding our middle class,”  Warren was quoted in the New York Times as having said.

Called the ‘ultra millionaire tax,’ the goal of this tax is to bring money to organizations that need it and to benefit the middle class. If imposed, the tax is expected to raise $2.75 trillion in tax revenue over the span of a decade.

“There was definitely a historical precedent on this issue,”  San Pasqual High School social studies teacher Vincent Silva said. “President JFK wanted to raise the marginal tax rate, Bush wanted to…” So it seems that history has been repeated.

According to cnbc.com, in 1917, the marginal tax rate spiked to 67%. The years 1951 through 1963, the US held a marginal tax rate above 90%. Since then, it has dropped to a 30% rate, up until the recent democratic proposal to elevate it to 70%.

“We often refer to the ‘yesteryear’ as a better day. Well, yesteryear was a time where the top percent of people would pay a higher tax,” said Silva.

The increase in a tax rate would mostly affect the upper class. It would also benefit the middle class by granting finances to organizations including: the police department, firefighters. Furthermore, it would be benefiting those in school, making financial aid, scholarships, and tutoring something easier to get a hold of.

“[Democrats are] looking to tax the rich to pay for expanded social programs to distribute wealth more evenly,” the New York Times said.

They believe that most of this country’s wealth is going towards the top percentage of people, and that imposing the tax could help with evenly distributing our money and helping the people of the middle class. The tax would also impose a 2% annual tax rate on stocks, real estate, retirement funds, and more.

If called to action, the people of the United States would look towards 2020 for our new “ultra millionaire tax,” successful or not successful.