Posted on 03/18/2011 9:37:34 AM PDT by reaganaut1
Most Americans continue to believe the middle class pays more in taxes than those who are wealthy, and they favor an income tax system where everyone pays the same percentage of their income.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 23% of Adults think wealthy Americans pay a larger share of their income in taxes. Sixty-four percent (64%) disagree and say middle-class Americans pay a larger share. Thirteen percent (13%) are not sure.
This marks little change since 2009. It's important to note, however, that the question does not define either "middle class" or "wealthy" by specific income levels.
Fifty-five percent (55%) of adults favor a tax system where everyone pays the same percentage of their income in taxes, up 10 points from last year at this time. Twenty-six percent (26%) oppose such a system, and another 19% are undecided about it.
But a plurality (43%) opposes the elimination of all tax deductions in exchange for lower tax rates, down eight points from a year ago. Twenty-three percent (23%) say it's a good idea. Twenty-nine percent (29%) aren't sure.
Sixty-five percent (65%) say if deductions for charitable donations were reduced for wealthy Americans, it is at least somewhat likely that the wealthy would give less to charity. That includes 40% who say it is Very Likely. Twenty-one percent (21%) think that's unlikely, but only six percent (6%) say it is Not At All Likely.
The survey of 1,000 Adults nationwide was conducted on March 13-14, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
(Excerpt) Read more at rasmussenreports.com ...
50% of Americans think that half of America doesn’t know much.
This must be leading to the Dems favorite call: Tax the rich more.....despite the fact that taxing EVERYONE in the US at 100% would ONLY cover entitlement spending..... =.=
Pay the most when it comes to impacting one’s quality of life? HELL YES!!!!
That is most likely why people are responding that way.
So what’s new in this new communists America.
“...open to the idea of eliminating all deductions in exchange for lower tax rates.”
The libs only hear “...open to the idea of eliminating all deductions “.
They are incapable of acknowledging the other half of the equation.
64% are either too lazy or too stupid to read and use the rax code to avoid taxes!
““...open to the idea of eliminating all deductions in exchange for lower tax rates.”
No damn way!!!
Reading and using the tax code is how you lower your taxes!
Flat tax with no deductions is the way to go. The IRS would only be needed to find unreported income.
The courts via prop 8 said the 14th amendment is the supreme law of the land the government must treat every citizen equally.
So, your “fair share” should be the same as everyone else.
It is NOT fair to give free homes, food, education, health care to one citizen and not the other. The entire progressive tax system has been deemed un-Constitutional by prop 8 - which is what we need. Get rid of government treating us differently and by force of government.
I have been waiting and trying to find groups now to sue the government under the 14th amendment for fair taxation and any references would be helpful.
The government must by law treat every citizen equally and to barrow the saying from teh liberal mayor of San Fran,
It is going to happen weather they like it or not!
Is this a fact or a best guess on your part?? Thanks in advance.
If you took all of the possessions of the so called rich in this country, you would become Zimbabwe.
Then your next step when all of the food, money, jobs, wealth runs out is to kill all of the former wealthy.
Maybe that is what the left wants.
Looking on the positive side, we will no longer have an illegal Alien problem in this country.
When you count income tax, federal and state as well as sales tax, gasoline excise tax, and every other tax we pay it’s true that the main burden of the cost of government falls on the shoulders of the middle class. The sales taxes I pay are a much greater per cent of my earnings than is the case with Bill Gates.
The poor should pay the most, they use most of the services.
They could eliminate 95% of everything government does or is involved in and I would love it!
If they are talking exclusively about the income tax, then the wealthy pay a larger percent. However, are they considering sales taxes, real estate taxes, gas taxes, etc.? As a percent of income, lower earners might very well be paying a greater share of taxes over all. I don’t really know, but I think income tax comparisons, by themselves, are somewhat deceptive. Corporate taxes, for example, might affect the poor more, because higher prices for items and services consume a greater portion of their income. Business tax costs may be hidden, but they’re there.
That really depends on the type of income.
If you are getting $500,000 a year in qualified dividends, and live in a state with high income tax, you might be paying as little as 13% in total Federal income tax, with no AMT liability.
However, if you are working and making $100,000, you would pay Federal income tax and social security tax amounting to about 25% of you income.
This crap drives me batty.
Which one am I supposed to comment on?
The title uses the word THEIR.
64% Say Middle Class Americans Pay the Largest Share of Their Income in Taxes
The first sentence says nothing about THEIR INCOME, it shifts the meaning to "TOTAL TAXES".
They are two utterly different concepts.
I don't think there is any question that OF THOSE who pay taxes, the IMPACT TO AN INDIVIDUAL'S GROSS INCOME falls most "painfully" upon middle-class taxpayers. I don't know what to say about this kind of artifice, whether it is on purpose or is a product of pure slop. I think it is a deliberate sewing of confusion and if I may, my least favorite word in the English language, divisiveness.
“When you count income tax, federal and state as well as sales tax, gasoline excise tax, and every other tax we pay it’s true that the main burden of the cost of government falls on the shoulders of the middle class”
I believe that is true. But note that the title of the article sets up THAT argument, then proceeds to ask respondents who they think remits the most in terms of total taxes collected.
Aren’t those totally different concepts?
FICA is nothing but an income tax. This has been settled law by the Supreme Court since 1961. So yes, the salaried middle class pay the highest percentage of their income in income taxes on average.
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