Americans are divided over Bush tax cuts
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When it comes to taxes, the United States is far from united.
The breakdown of Americans who favor keeping all of President George W. Bush’s tax cuts, repealing only those for wealthy Americans, or scrapping them entirely is essentially the same, according to the latest Pew Research/National Journal Congressional Connection poll.
The three-way divide looks like this: 31 percent say all of the tax cuts passed when Bush was president should be repealed; 30 percent say all of the tax cuts should remain in place; 27 percent say tax cuts for the wealthy should be repealed, while others should be maintained.
Who favors ending the tax cuts? Democrats, blacks and younger Americans, according to the poll. Meanwhile, Republicans, whites and older Americans would like to keep the tax cuts in place. (For more demographic data, see the chart on the left.)
President Obama has been vocal about his desire to extend Bush-era tax cuts for middle class Americans while letting cuts for the wealthy expire to help ease the U.S. budget deficit.
Which camp do you fall into?
As a side note, I had the opportunity to meet President Bush at the White House when he was trying to drum up support from the personal finance community for his 2002 tax package. And, just so you know, I may have impacted your taxes during that visit since I took a White House coaster and pad of paper home with me as a memento — with approval from the Secret Service, naturally.
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America’s entire tax structure needs to be reworked… too many loopholes, exemptions and yadda yadda yadda (not in the Seinfeld sense either.) First: I think the minimum income level for income tax to kick in is ridiculously high – it should be only about 20% above poverty line and the rate could be as low as 10%; second: there needs to be a solid definition of income brackets that’s more in line with reality, and based on definition of poverty line nad multiples thereof, eg. for single people, poverty line = $12k/yr or less, low income = 1.2x PL up to 3x PL, middle class = 3-20x PL, wealthy = more than 20x PL… for couples/families PL = 30k/yr, other brackets have same multiples. Rates should then be flat according to one’s bracket. AND LEAVE IT AT THAT! If other taxes need to be raised, they should be consumption taxes based on what the funds are needed for, with military expenditures coming from VAT (let’s see how many hawks will push for wars if it comes with a 10% VAT to pay for it!)
Corporate tax could follow a similar path, but with a broader range of ‘definitions’ based on number of employees and sector. The real key is to close loopholes and lower stated rates, and killing the incentives to borrow recklessly. Just an opinion from someone outside of America.
Thanks for the intersting article Lauren.
The results are not surprising. Those who pay little or no taxes favor higher taxes, while those who already pay high taxes do not.
However, as Ronald Regan said, the reason we have a budget deficit is not because we tax too little, but rather because we spend too much.
The only way to balance the budget is to increase taxes AND reduce spending. Everyone seems to forget that both Reagan and Bush cut (some) taxes but also INCREASED spending. Reagan went on a PR tour to explain how deficit spending was ok, stating that future annual 3% growth meant you could spend 103% today. Military expenditures soared (one to fight the Communitsts, one to fight terrorism and Iraq). Both, like the war on drugs, have provided negative returns (has the collapse of the USSR helped us economically? Is the war in Iraq self-funding?) Needless to say, you can’t have BOTH tax cuts and increased spending; soon the deficit will preclude us from contemplating EITHER.
Interesting poll… today we need the tax cuts to remain in place. Again, the problem overall is spending in the Government. However, lots of that spending assist all Americans. In our Democratic Society, the tax code helps all Americans. The poor are not being taken advantage by the tax code, but by the fact they are not building their job choice around the tax code. Using the tax code in ones employment can be the quickest way to enchance ones financial situation. The folks who have an understanding of the tax code, are more likely the ones who make donations, which help the less fortunate, yet still allows the individual making the donation to possibly deduct it from their taxes. In todays high unemployment era all of us need to see donations coming in all of our communities, so the folks who need a little extra help have some one to lean on.