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OBAMATAX

65% of Americans Want to Tax the Rich

And more favor Obama on the fiscal cliff

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by Mary Noble

Senior Editor t +

Image: AP

The fiscal cliff talks may be stalled, but out in the real world, things seem to be shifting in favor of Obama.

65% of Americans now support a tax increase on incomes over $250,000, according to a new Quinnipiac poll.

On top of that, 52% of Americans approve of how Obama's handling the fiscal cliff, according to Gallup – whereas only 27% are happy with how Republicans in Congress are dealing with it, according to Gallup.

When it comes to whom the public would blame, the numbers are virtually reversed. 53% would heap obloquy on Republicans, compared to 36% who'd blame the POTUS.

And in a blow to Norquist-pledged Republicans, 85% of the public have no time for his anti-tax pledge, while only 10% think it's the business.

Via Quinnipiac and Gallup.
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123 Comments (view in Forum)

  • WattheTyler
    !
    Tax the rich. and reform the tax code.
    End the wars.(drug and foreign wars)
    Cut military spending.
    Cut cooperate spending.
    Cut subsidizing agriculture.
    Reform prison.(stop locking people up for minimal crimes and abolish death penalty.)

    There I just fixed the budget.
  • Rocker
    !
    I agree. The 65% aren't necessarily wanting to tax the rich folks more as much as to pay their fair share. Closing the loopholes reducing the actual tax paid. Would what they pay now still be more than you or I? Of course. But as a percentage of income? Probably no. Additionally, you or I do not have the option of cashing in our stock options when we change jobs to the tune of 135 million bucks. But you bet your bippy that we pay taxes on a small bonus or severance.
  • woodtick57
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    @Rocker

    How is paying most of the income taxes garnered in the US not their fair share? which loopholes would you close, specifically?

    Who doesn't pay taxes on a small bonus or severance?(outside of the 47% that don't pay income taxes, that is?)

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  • MRMacrum
    !
    I am not deluding myself that the revenue derived by this token gesture tax hike will be a magic bullet. It is more of a symbolic thing that if passed marks the point where the will of the people finally takes back its own interests instead of allowing the GOP to march to their own tune.
  • Tralee
    !
    This makes absolutely no sense, or is it just revenge for some perceived wrong that you are seeking to right? Is that all it is? Envy and hate for those who dared to succeed? How sad, how very un-American. You do realize that this will run the Gov. for a total of 8 days but burden small businesses so badly that many will lose their jobs, but, who cares, someone will be getting even with those horrible rich (daring to make $250,000 per year for a couple) for having more than you. God, envy is not a pretty sight.
  • MRMacrum
    !
    @Tralee - "How sad, how very un-American." ....

    Hmm. Un-American? I find what the GOP has pulled and continues to pull to be un-American. And yes this is a symbolic line in the sand as I see it. The GOP pushed for this cliff. It is up to them to present alternatives with Specifics before I will grant them any slack in my opinion of them.
  • Tralee
    !
    @MRMacrum So all you want is a scalp or two, doesn't matter who gets hurt, who loses a job or anything even remotely like real fairness, just revenge. Pity, that's a sad state to be in and you might want to remember, what goes around, comes around. No bad deed goes unpunished. So, greed and envy my turn around and bite you on the back. I don't mind paying more to get us out of this mess, I very much mind the thought process like yours, that wants to punish us for being successful, working hard and earning our money. And just what has the GOP pulled? Really, not the DNC rhetoric, I will be able to refute that within second of reading it. Give me some REAL facts about what the GOP has done to be so hated, to cause people like you to hate and envy and want to punish perfectly nice hard working strangers just to make some point? One thing you also need to remember, you can over tax us, but you can't force us to continue working. Place too much of a burden on the hard working and they will hardly work, reducing their income to below the high tax rate or just retire outright. WE can live quite nicely now without working, make working non-profitable and the payers will quit, where will you get your fix of money then? Ha ha ha, you going to pay more taxes?
  • MRMacrum
    !
    @Tralee - When Has politics ever been about fairness? This fairness crap is for T ball and high school football. If you are so concerned about fairness, maybe you should be directing some of your indignation at the Right. They are as guilty of playing dirty as any one on the Left.

    As to giving you facts about the GOP deserving any hate, I won't play that game. I have a list that starts at the least back in th elate 1970s. The GOP deserves my lack of respect by their many decades of trying to manipulate the system by hook or by crook to place them in the driver's seat. That said, I hold the Democrats only slightly above the GOP, but not by much. They too are more than willing to play dirty. But at the moment it is the GOP I see as the worst of the worst.
  • Thegrif
    !
    @Tralee howdy kid. Not only will taxing the rich only run the Fed Gov't for 8 days, but here is another stat for ya.
    That tax increase the Dems just got to have, it will only pay for 26 hours worth if national debt, so it will only buy America one damn day. Add that to the fact that Obama wants total control to spend at his will, which tells me he has no plans to cut his spending. All that really makes the tax increase pointless. The only up side I see for us Reps is that Obama will have to come to the House to ask for more money, he would have to beg if I sat in the house.

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  • AtheistStand
    !
    .If the super multi-generational "job creators" mega wealthy refuse to pay a fair livable wage and invest back into the great country that supported them and helped them become/remain rich and protected.......then it WILL come from somewhere else, which just happens to be taxes.

    The good'ole boy days of take,take,take.......is over.

    The new majority (working hard but still poor) are demanding and getting change.
  • kramresim1
    !
    @woodtick57
    I would feel extremely wealthy if my income was half that much. I have a master's degree, and yet I can only dream of making that one half.
  • Hireman
    !
    When you rob from Peter to pay Paul, you'll always have the support of Paul. Polls like this are stupid. Of course there are large portions of the population that want other to pay more -- our country has become a gimme, lazy one that expects others to lift a finger so they don't have to... especially when it comes to paying for things.
  • norezen
    !
    You're talking about rich people right? They continue to take larger portions of company revenue because they feel they are entitled to more of what other people earn for a company (wages stagnate, executive salaries skyrocket). They also want better treatment when it comes to taxation (millionaires frequently pay less than 20% in effective taxes, working people pay more than 30%).
  • Hireman
    !
    @norezen The average effective rate for all people is less than 15%. Where do you get the idea that "working people pay more than 30%" when the only you have to earn over 178k just for the honor to be taxed at ABOVE 30%(effective rates are lower than bracket rates)?
  • norezen
    !
    @Hireman 178k is a far cry from a millionaire. Most people who make less than $250k or so are salaried working people.
    Millionaire means over $1 million income per year in this case. Lots of them make their income from investments or are compensated by their employers through income that can be classified as investment income thus having a considerably lower tax rate.
  • Hireman
    !
    @norezen I think you need to do a lot more research before you get worked up. Investment income IS taxed at a lower rate, and anyone making over 35k pays a higher, just not necessarily a higher effective rate. What you're missing is very few rich people rely solely on investment income, and their ordinary payroll-taxed income is far higher. The average millionaire pays over 20% effective rate, whereas an average person paid around 12%. Your numbers don't add up to nearly 30%.
  • PNWest
    !
    It is obvious that we need to tax the rich more. Since we lowered the top tax rates we have seen the separation between the rich and the rest of society get bigger and bigger . It is far past time to raise taxes on those at the top. This will help the economy and help to bring down the deficit. A large middle class is critical to a stable society. The giveaways to the rich and powerful need to stop.
  • MRMacrum
    !
    "I'd rather tax the homeless for taking up space that they haven't paid for. " .....

    Interesting concept there. Taxing the Homeless. Talk about thinking outside the box. I would be interested in knowing what the Homeless might use to pay those taxes with.
  • MRMacrum
    !
    @PoliticalSpice - Well Jimmy there certainly got my mind working in a different direction. As I often will allow myself to entertain bizarre notions, I thought about this tax the homeless idea and figured there might just be a way for them to save our economy.

    Okay, so we know the Homeless probably do not have even the jingle to buy a sandwich let alone the jingle to pay taxes with, what do they have? They have their word. What we could do is issue promissory notes for them to sign and be collected by the IRS. But only after we have determined how many homeless there are and how much money we need in the collective till to get our bottom line back into the black. We take the total and divide the number of homeless into it. For argument's sake let's say the nut is $1 trillion bucks and there are 10 million homeless. That would make the promised payback to come to oh roughly $1 million bucks each homeless person promises to pay when their lives get back on track.

    The US treasury then takes these promissory notes and applies them to the debt we owe our creditors. I am sure China would go for it. They know our homeless will honor the debt. And if they don't well, that becomes China's problem.

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  • IMAQT
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    There are 25 people in a room. One person pays more in income taxes than the other 24...combined. 12 People pay zero income taxes and many of those still get refunds regardless of paying zero (welfare). This is what you must believe if you are a democrat: The one person that pays more than all the others combined is still not paying "their fair share", yet they have no problem with the 12 that pay zero income taxes. This is what you MUST believe if you are a democrat.
  • PoliticalSpice
    !
    I voted yes, but actually think $250,000 is a bit low, favor a millionaires tax ad better pr, and more equitable. Presently 250,000 is not a lot for raising a family in a lot of cities, and when inflation from this spending and the Bush wars, and present wars kick in a couple years hence it will be worth even less. But between repubs and Obama, well really...
  • DARSB
    !
    These numbers tell me that if Speaker Boehner can survive the upcoming Teapartista palace coup, he'll have even less leverage to use in the fiscal cliff discussions.
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  • jessejaymes
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    Soak the rich until they pay us back for the bailouts, the two wars and every single dime of deficit spending under Bush II and interest. And while we're at it STOP PAYING 300.00 FOR A DAMN HAMMER!!!
  • jessejaymes
    !
    With the lowest taxes on the ultra rich since the advent of income tax this nation lost 12 million jobs. You are more right than I am but I agree with you at times and you have agreed with me at times. With all due respect you are dead wrong on this one.
  • RobertJHarsh
    !
    @jessejaymes And I cannot seem to understand why. It's basic 8th grade math. LOW TAXES = more jobs, economic expansion, and more revenue collected by the state. INCREASE TAXES = job losses, economic contraction, and less jobs. Why do the Democrats continue to squeeze the successful in this country and make them the bad guy?
  • jessejaymes
    !
    @RobertJHarsh In the world economy Robert that is simply not true any longer. The money they made under the bush tax cuts went to create jobs in China, Indonesia and India. They are not creating jobs in America man. If they're not creating jobs here and they aren't paying heavy taxes on taking our jobs there then we don't need them,. Let them move.
  • MRMacrum
    !
    "They simply do not understand how taxing the people who create jobs will cause the opposite effect." .....

    History would not necessarily support this contention.

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  • Your_Name_Here
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    I think everyone should pay a minimum income tax of 10% with no exemptions plus an incremental sales tax or GST. If you buy a Bugatti there will be a higher tax rate on it then your VW. An obvious question is "What constitutes rich?" Why should anyone who expends the effort to become successful and make money be penalized? Why should people who don't want to educate themselves or work be subsidized by others? Why should taxpayers subsidize illegals who run across the border to drop a baby on US soil so someone else will pick up the tab? Start pulling the trigger on criminals to reduce prison populations and bring back chain gangs. If you don't like it don't go to prison; it's optional, you know. If you can afford to have kids you can afford to get off welfare and support them yourself. The "government" wants to move retirement to age 67? Let's make sure that everyone who works in any taxpayer-funded job retire at that same age and any pension must be fully funded (we'll allow a partial employer match on the 401K). No wars, just send over some nukes if anyone threatens us. How about some tariffs? How many billions of dollars have been spent correcting all the problems caused by imported crap from other countries? Remember the lead paint in toys and disintegrating stainless steel and poison pet food and toxic drywall and the list just seems to go on and on at our expense???
  • Your_Name_Here
    !
    @DanielMincin Maybe but if you look at the numbers which I am rounding you have total gross income of 10 trillion and taxes paid of about 8% of that figure. That is way less than 10%. There is additional revenue coming in from corporate tax but I do not have that number. There are people and corporations that do not pay any tax at all and corporations that receive substantial subsidies from the government that should not be getting anything. If we start with 10% for everyone, plus the corporate tax plus eliminate subsidies there is a lot of money. The other part is to cut spending and waste. If the objective here is to take the money away from people who work and give it to those who want to collect welfare checks from the government, those who the create wealth will go elsewhere.
  • NO-BAMA
    !
    Its nice to see the jealousy and contempt of folks who have obtained success is still going strong.
    The libs just love their "war on success".
    Keep punishing the successful and when they leave, their money will go also. Who then will the jealous "entitled" libs attack next to achieve their dependent lifestyle?
    I guess you don't need common sense to want to steal from others.
  • DARSB
    !
    I went to my online thesaurus, tried to look up "ninja." The popup window said "Ninja cannot be found."

    Well played, Ninja. Well played.
  • Jeff_Woehrle
    !
    And thus the tipping point has been reached.

    Here's a thought: Rather than tax those who already pay even more, why not get that 47 percent who pay nothing to pay their share? Even a little bit would help.

    The horror! Let 'the rich' pay even more! Yeah!
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