Posted on 04/19/2014 11:09:17 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The latest Reason-Rupe poll asked Americans if they would support or oppose changing the federal tax system to a flat tax, where everyone pays the same percentage of his or her income, finding that 62 percent favor the flat tax and 33 percent are opposed. When asked where they would set the flat tax, the aveage response was 15 percent.
This reflects another recent Reason-Rupe poll finding that 67 percent of Americans say it is "not the responsibility of the government to reduce the differences in income between people with high incomes and those with low incomes," while 29 percent say it is.
Strong support for a flat tax extends across income groups (62 percent) among those making less than $30,000 a year and 73 percent among those making more than $110,000 a year. Similarly across education groups and age groups, 6 in 10 say they support the flat tax.
Support for a flat tax extends beyond partisanship, with 66 percent of Republicans, 68 percent of independents, and 52 percent of Democrats in support. Nevertheless, Democrats are more likely to oppose the flat tax (43 percent) compared to Republicans (29 percent) and independents (29 percent).
Americans who say the less government the better and that the free market can better solve problems than a strong government, favor a flat tax by a margin of nearly 50 points (roughly 72 to 25 percent). However, those who think government should be doing more and that we need a strong government to solve problems favor a flat tax by only 8 points (roughly 51 to 45 percent).
These results seem to contradict previous Reason-Rupe poll results finding a majority in support of raising taxes on the wealthy—implying support for a progressive rather than flat tax. In 2012, Reason-Rupe found that 57 percent favored raising taxes "on those making more than $250,000 a year," while 39 percent opposed. Again, in 2013, Reason-Rupe found that 66 percent favored the government raising taxes on “wealthier households,” while 31 percent opposed.
Americans Think The Middle Class Pays More Taxes Than the Rich
One explanation for why Americans say they want both a flat tax and to raise taxes on the wealthy is that 66 percent of Americans are under the distinct impression that the middle class is literally paying a larger share of their income in taxes than the wealthy. Rhetoric throughout the 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns made many Americans believe they were paying more in taxes than the wealthy. Reason-Rupe recently asked Americans who favor these tax increases to explain in their own words why they wanted the wealthy to pay more. While many of the reasons were about the rich being better able to afford higher taxes, many revealed that they believe the rich actually pay less taxes than they do (full responses here):
Urban Institute data reports that in fact, the wealthy do pay a higher tax rate than the middle class. Average effective federal tax rates in 2011, as a percentage of adjusted gross income find the following (after tax credits):
Lowest Income Quintile: -5.8%
Second Quintile: 1.3%
Middle Quintile: 9.2%
Fourth Quintile: 12.9%
Top Quintile: 20.6%
The “1 Percent” pay 25.3%”
Reason-Rupe also found that only about 20 percent of Americans knew the actual share of federal income tax dollars paid by the top 5 percent of households, which is roughly 60 percent of all tax receipts. Without knowing these facts, 57 percent of Americans say they think the top 5 percent should contribute no more than 40 percent of all the tax revenue collected.
These data indicate that the public really doesn’t know how much the rich pay, and often likely make policy judgments based off of the political rhetoric of the politicians and pundits they trust. The more Americans are led to believe that there is widespread cheating among the nation’s wealthy, the greater the support for raising their taxes.
Even though recent polls show that Americans say they support a flat tax and don’t believe government has a responsibility to reduce the income gap, Gallup has found in recent years that a slim majority (52 percent) supports the government “redistribut[ing] wealth by heavy taxes on the rich.” It’s unclear if different wording, the belief that the rich pay less than the middle class, or something else explains these seemingly contradictory findings. It’s likely that many Americans don’t know what the word “redistribute” even means and thus respond as if this is just a question about raising taxes on the wealthy.
Nationwide telephone poll conducted March 26-30 2014 interviewed 1003 adults on both mobile (503) and landline (500) phones, with a margin of error +/- 3.6%. Princeton Survey Research Associates International executed the nationwide Reason-Rupe survey. Columns may not add up to 100% due to rounding. Full poll results, detailed tables, and methodology found here. Sign up for notifications of new releases of the Reason-Rupe poll here.
Emily Ekins is the director of polling for Reason Foundation where she leads the Reason-Rupe public opinion research project.
The fair tax is the only income tax I’d support. We should go back to the only tax that works,tarrifs on imports.
Q. Why is is called Fair Tax?
A. Because they want to con people to think it is fair.
How about this. The states handle all tax collection, and what might be left over goes to DC.
Oh hell, why we’re talkin pie-in-the-sky thoughts, every vote of a voter is tracked with their voter ID card. If you vote for a line item, you pay for it through some mechanism to deduct it from any funds/assets you have. Period. If you vote for amnesty, your assests/monies are subject to a regular deduction/withdrawal to pay your share of enabling these parasites to stay in this country.
I too am for a flat tax although I prefer the Fair Tax twist that refunds a fixed amount per person to reflect the cost of basic sustenance. Rich or poor, the same return to them. The welfare industry instantly eliminated. Reduce the IRS to collecting post cards. Nothing. Else. Everyone has pretty much the same stake in assuring effective usage of our pooled funding of federal (and state, local) resources.
I am damn cranky this year since my unique situation involving foreign plus USA income resulted in 60% of my income going to one country or another for one category or another. No one deserves this BS from our (USA) or any government. No one.
The Russian federal tax is about the same as California’s top STATE bracket (12.3%) ....
that's 1% for you 12.3% for me, cause i'm the taxman, yeahyeah i'm the taxman...
Flat taxes are great, until people realize that their employer healthcare ‘benefit’ counts as taxable income, along with their mortgage debt interest.
...then not so much support.
I was gonna say......it wouldn’t matter if 100% prefer a flat tax, the politicians don’t. A flat tax would take away their Power and control of us.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.