Most voters back Ocasio-Cortez plan to tax richest Americans up to 70 percent: poll

U.S. Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., asks 2014 Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai a question at the Kennedy School's Institute of Politics at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., Dec. 6, 2018. (Associated Press)

A majority of voters support a proposal floated by U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to dramatically increase the highest tax rate on the wealthiest Americans to as high as 70 percent.

Around 59 percent of registered voters support the idea, according to a Hill-HarrisX survey, which was conducted Jan. 12-13 after the New York Democrat set off a nationwide debate with her comments on CBS's “60 Minutes” that she would support the increase to fund her climate change plan.

The proposed tax hike would affect those making $10 million or more, she said.

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"That doesn't mean all $10 million are taxed at an extremely high rate, but it means that as you climb up this ladder you should be contributing more," Ocasio-Cortez said during the interview.

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Women supported the proposal by 62-38 percent and men favored it by 55-45 percent, according to the Hill. Southerners back the concept by a 57 to 43 percent margin and 45 percent of Republican voters also viewed it positively.

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During the "60 Minutes" interview, Ocasio-Cortez referenced tax rates returning to levels seen in the 1950s and 1960s, when the richest Americans were taxed at up to 90 percent.