Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez owes over $2,000 in outstanding taxes after a warrant was issued for her now-defunct publishing company in 2017 – but she insists it was made 'in error'

Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez owes $2,000 in unpaid taxes from a failed business venture. 

The New York Tax Department's records show that a warrant has been filed against he business, Brook Avenue Press, which was dissolved in October 2016.

The publishing house was founded in order to 'help develop and identify stories and literature in urban areas ….specifically in communities like The Bronx,' Ocasio-Cortez says in a 2011 YouTube video. 

She was just 22 years old at the time she started the company. 

Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez owes $2,000 in unpaid taxes from a failed business venture

At the time, Ocasio-Cortez, who is known for supporting higher taxes on the wealthiest Americans, supported doubling tax deductions for small businesses like hers.

'You don't really make a profit in your first year,' Ocasio-Cortez said in 2012.

'To get taxed on top of that is a real whammy.'

The state issued a warrant to the company in July of 2017, just two months after Ocasio-Cortez declared her candidacy in the Democratic primary, over a $1,618.36 unpaid bill.

The tax warrant had still not been satisfied as of Friday, the New York Post reported, and the outstanding payment has climbed to $2,088.78. 

The company was founded in order to 'help develop and identify stories and literature in urban areas ….specifically in communities like The Bronx,' Ocasio-Cortez says in a 2011 YouTube video. She was just 22 years old at the time she started the company

A spokeswoman for Ocasio-Cortez claimed the tax warrant was made in error and the congresswoman was challenging the bill. 

'The congresswoman is still in the process of contesting the tax warrant. The business has been closed for several years now, and so we believe that the state Tax Department has continued to collect the franchise tax in error,' said Lauren Hitt.

'As anyone who's tried to contest a tax bill in error knows, it takes time.' 

Ocasio-Cortez's publishing house was launched through the Sunshine Bronx Business Incubator, a New York City-subsidized program designed to help small businesses in The Bronx.

The initiative was headquartered in an old converted factory in the Hunts Point section of The Bronx, where entrepreneurs like Ocasio-Cortez paid monthly rent which ranged between $195 and $275 per person.

Nonetheless, the company failed to publish a book.