AllahPundit of Hotair comments:
... The bottom 50 percent or so in household income naturally wishes they had a little more to work with, and well-to-do liberals for ideological reasons wish they could give it to them. (Not out of their own pockets, of course, but out of America’s tax coffers.)
My assumption was that the privations of a recession would sharpen the resentment of the poor and middle class towards wealthier people so that you’d see a spike since 2009, but they actually seem to be dulling it a bit. Why? Maybe there’s a perception, even among redistributionists, that everyone gets hurt in a slowdown and therefore it’s less fair to ask for more. Conversely, during the prosperity of the 90s and 00s, support for redistribution stays high. Where does that dip circa 2001 come from, though? The mild recession of that decade didn’t start until a year later. Is that some byproduct of 9/11, i.e. “we all need to pull together” and not squabble over resources?
Also curious: If you follow the link up top and scroll down, you’ll see that support for tax hikes on the rich doesn’t track closely with the above graph on redistribution. That number’s at a 15-year high right now even though support for redistribution in the abstract is actually lower than it was in 1998. What explains that? I’m thinking there may be an “Obama effect” where the attention O has devoted specifically to taxing the rich over the last few years has helped push support for that particular form of redistribution upward, but meanwhile the recession and subsequent stagnant Obama “recovery” has kept support for redistribution in principle low-ish by historic standards. And yet, even with the trend in support for tax hikes, the number who support those right now (52 percent) is actually lower than the number that supports redistribution in principle (59 percent). Who are the seven percent who want more redistribution but not necessarily through tax hikes? What do they have in mind?
One last footnote: Compare the numbers for Republicans and independents at the link when they’re asked whether wealth should be redistributed more fairly and whether the government, specifically, should do the redistributing. Indies are split almost evenly on the latter question but are heavily in favor of more redistribution on the former. Republicans are heavily opposed to both ideas. That’s one reason why the Democrats’ attack on the GOP as the “party of the rich” perpetually gets traction with voters, no matter how many wealthy donors contribute to the DNC and no matter how cozy big-name Dems get with Wall Street.
Those who rob Peter to pay Paul can always be assured of Paul’s support.
“”The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.”
— Thomas Jefferson
I’m surprised that ONLY 52 percent favor higher taxes on “the rich.” The American people are looking for quick cash any way they can find it.
What, exactly, are “heavy” taxes on the rich? This part of the poll is useless. Do people think the rich should pay 50% of their income in tax? 75%? 100% over a certain level? What percentage of total tax revenues do people think the rich are paying now? If people were told that the top 10% pay 70%+ of all income taxes, would they think that is heavy enough? If people were told that if we confiscated the wealth of the top 1%, that it would not run the government for a year, would they realize the futility of “heavy” taxes on the rich? This really is a BS part of the poll.
It shows once more that many of our citizens are being told (of what to think)that the government should be the ultimate source of picking the winners/the producers of the wealth and as well as who will be punished. Gallop is pushing more polls into making the majority of us to think our government is all good for us. Of course, we need government, though it should not be as we see it is today. Like the immigration bill coming up in the Senate; just another added layer of bureaucracy run by politicians who will never face the challenges that we all will in our lives in an attempt to change this country’s foundation forever.
The catch is they NEVER ask what is considered a FAIR amount that people would like the rich to be taxed. When my sampling answers most of these dolts say something along the lines of 50 percent for ALL tax burdens. Imagine their surprise when I say oh good now we can lower taxes.
Who qualifies as a conservative? John McCain, Schwarzenegger, Olympia Snow????
fairness demands that loopholes be closed. The most revenue can be raised by adjusting the standard deduction downward