Thread: 75% of Likely Voters Support Lower Top Marginal Tax Rates

"The new data seem to run counter to several polls that have found support for raising taxes on high-income earners."

This is a bogus poll....obviously... if its different then several other credible polling agencies. If your still in doubt, averaging out the polling results should tell the true tail....my moneys on support for higher taxes on wealthy individuals, and by wealthy I mean multi-millionaires....not moderately high income earners. I'm willing to bet the majority of those polled were conservatives considering the article presented no information regarding what groups were polled.

Originally Posted by cpwill

...thereby failing to fall for class warfare pap in the face of actual available evidence.

this, honestly, makes me feel much better about our future.

if true.



for those of you (and you know who you are) who will immediately respond by arguing that Americans want to raise taxes on the wealthy - well, it's a question of framing:

Really even the Hills own article suggest that their poll is bull**** and should be ignored. I think you should read the whole thing. I personally favor a progressive taxation, essentially reinstate the previous rates before Bush, and eventually progress to roll back all tax cuts. I also think that while a lot of unfair tax breaks need to be taken away from businesses, their overall taxes should be lowered.

cp you are a pretty smart guy, try to come up with something better next time.

By all means the GOP should take these poll results and make lowering taxes upon the wealthy the centerpiece of their platfrom and fall campaign. Please do this.

Originally Posted by haymarket

By all means the GOP should take these poll results and make lowering taxes upon the wealthy the centerpiece of their platfrom and fall campaign. Please do this.

They've already done it. All four GOP candidates are proposing very large tax cuts for the wealthy.

Originally Posted by AdamT

They've already done it. All four GOP candidates are proposing very large tax cuts for the wealthy.

The question is what will be there position in September and October? And will it be harder to find than a midget in the NBA?

Originally Posted by AdamT

If you're in a business that's relying on 10 year government plans, please post the name so I can make sure I don't own any of that stock.

You're not in business, I see. Unlike the government, business has to show a profit to attract investment. Not for one year, but for many, many years.

Originally Posted by cpwill

...thereby failing to fall for class warfare pap in the face of actual available evidence.

this, honestly, makes me feel much better about our future.

if true.



for those of you (and you know who you are) who will immediately respond by arguing that Americans want to raise taxes on the wealthy - well, it's a question of framing:

Honestly I'm not sure if I like the way this question was phrased or asked, I don't believe people really have the knowledge to have a truly educated opinion on an exact tax rate and more often think in terms of "less or more."

Personally I think if you asked someone "Most Appropriate Top Tax Rate For Families earning $250,000 or More" then ask them to pick from the follow:
Less than 20%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%

the most common response is going to be "uhh I dunno" and then they are going to use their gut to make a decision. Now regardless of whether they have enough information, an opinion is an opinion and if they vote based on their opinion then its important. However I don't believe people are going to vote on this opinion, because I don't believe the majority of people have a hardened firm opinion on what percentage they think families earning over 250K should be taxed. This isn't an issue like abortion, or medicare which carries a heavy emotional meaning for some people, this is a specific tax bracket that most people don't belong to. I know "not sure" was only selected 5% of the time, but I'm quite confident that its actually the most honest answer based on my experience.

In other words, this is a question more about math and numbers and less about emotions, and personally I think people vote more with emotion then with math and numbers.

Originally Posted by AdamT

Seems to me the more accurate way to gauge whether people think the rich should pay higher taxes is to ask them directly if the rich should pay higher taxes, as in previous polls.

That is undeniably the worst way to ask the question. We basically are asking a lot of people who aren't the rich whether we should tax the rich so that they don't have their taxes raised and they can possibly get more stuff from the government. I cannot really see a scenario where uninformed people will answer anything but yes, tax the rich.

Originally Posted by jambalaya

That is undeniably the worst way to ask the question. We basically are asking a lot of people who aren't the rich whether we should tax the rich so that they don't have their taxes raised and they can possibly get more stuff from the government. I cannot really see a scenario where uninformed people will answer anything but yes, tax the rich.

What you're arguing is that we shouldn't care what most people think about the issue, which is quite different from arguing about the best way to find out what they think about the issue (i.e. what the thread is about).

Originally Posted by Erod

You're not in business, I see. Unlike the government, business has to show a profit to attract investment. Not for one year, but for many, many years.

My point is that 10 year government projections are about 90% less reliable than flipping a coin. If your business is relying on those projections then you've got a problem. They'd be better off basing their decisions on a Magic Eight Ball.