Poll: Most Americans Say Tax System Unjust

[UpInArms]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1845616

WASHINGTON Apr 15, 2006 (AP)— Almost as certain as death and taxes is the public's feeling that the U.S. income tax system is not fair. An Ipsos Poll released this week found almost six of 10 people, 58 percent, say the system is unjust, a number that is virtually unchanged from two decades ago.

People think the middle class, the self-employed and small businesses pay too much in taxes, the poll found. And they think those with high incomes and big businesses don't pay enough. The survey was conducted in the days before the mid-April deadline for filing income tax returns.

<snip>

The Reagan administration led a tax overhaul two decades ago that significantly lowered tax rates and eliminated or reduced several deductions. The first President Bush abandoned his "read my lips, no new taxes pledge" in a 1990 budget deal that raised taxes.

<snip>

And the second Bush administration pushed successfully for tax cuts that lowered the top income tax rate to 35 percent and slashed tax rates for individuals and manufacturers.

...more...

[sendero]

1. But they voted for a jackass..

... who SAID he would make it worse. Wahhhhhhh :)

[The Backlash Cometh]

8. My Christian sister voted for Bush for the tax bribe.

I told her, all you're getting back is 300 per adult. She looked at me with a blank look on her face and replied, "Sounds good to me. I'll take it."

There was absolutely no indication on her face that she would understand that social programs for the poor would be cut for her to get such a pittance of money.

[sendero]

10. That's not the half of it..

.. she will be paying a lot more than $300 in taxes in the future when the national debt has to be payed back :)

[holboz]

11. Cost of fuel eats up that tax break!

Not to mention the ripple effect that higher fuel costs have. A few years ago we set aside $300 a month for food/household items. Now we're having to set aside $400/month. Our fuel bill has almost doubled. Our electric and natural gas bills are up about 30%.

The $300 tax break is an absolute joke and really a slap in the face.

My husband and I find ourselves talking more and more about the prosperity of the 1990s. I graduated from high school in 1992 and from university in 1996; it seemed like the opportunities were endless then. It's so hard to believe how much the world has changed in 10 years.

[The Backlash Cometh]

20. They were SO sold on taking personal responsibility.

That meant to them that they didn't want to put any more money in a pool to help others out. And what happened? My brother-in-law got socked with a $15,000 deductible on a hurricane loss. What irony. He was trying to be all stoic about it, but the man felt emasculated when a year later he couldn't even pay for his own daughter's wedding. She paid for it herself. Republican values, for you.

[darkmaestro019]

12. That $300 or so paid for ONE month of the rent we lacked

due to job after job packing up and ittying off. Thanks, Georgie.

[antonialee839]

14. I tried to explain the tax "rebate" scam to

people I worked with, they refused to catch on that this was merely a loan on their future tax return. They believed Bush was giving them free money.

[BayCityProgressive]

2. Yet

Democrats always let the GOP control the message on taxes. Why is this!?!?!?! My Gov, Gov Granholm may very well lose her re-election to Devos on this issue. The state GOP wants to cut the business tax in Michigan which would take 2 billion in revenue from the state. No social programs will be able to be funded if this happens so Granholm vetoed it. She is already doing a horrible job of defending her position...

[Aviation Pro]

9. Make sure that the voters of Michigan....

...understand the deep criminal connection of DeVos to Daddy Rich's Amway Corporation. It might help to make the connection from Shrew Wife Betsy to BlackwaterUSA founder and CEO Erik Prince.

[Blue_Tires]

24. wow...what a FUGLY connection....

[UrbScotty]

17. Well, Granholm isn't a billionaire outsourcer

If she had as much as DeVos, she'd be on the offensive.

[GOPBasher]

18. Democrats have no clue how to win public debates.

Every time Bush says "tax cut," the Democrats should say, "birth tax" from the national debt. Or they could say, "fiscal crisis." Or they can say a number of other things. But they don't. They say the same old tired fucking lines. This is why we get our ass kicked every two years. I'm getting so sick of it.

If not one Republican I have every been friends with has EVER beaten me in a debate -- and I'm not very articulate, nor am I a good debator -- why can't the Dem politicians have the same success? It sickins me to death. All I say is, "Bush has added about 2 1/2 trillion dollars to the national debt in just over five years." They NEVER have anything to say about that. They have to change the subject. Why won't the national Democrats use the same language?

[mcscajun]

3. Sounds like "the public" is Dead On Right.

Of course, their being right isn't going to change anything anytime soon.

[Deja Q]

4. Did they notice that their taxes crept up AFTER the tax "cuts" were made?

[0007]

5. We do have an unjust tax system and have had for years now.

The corporations love the structure.

[Aviation Pro]

6. The fallacy of those that want to "help" the rich....

...by insisting that the wealthy won't have any incentive to be productive if they are taxed at a higher rate don't have any clue what drives successful, wealthy individuals (here's a clue, it ain't money).

The other silent gorillas in the corner when it comes to this debate is that most major wealth is accumulated either from a single stroke of luck - most people work hard, what seperates them from success is being at the exact right place at the exact right time - or the posssesion of a criminal mindset.

Either way, with the political pendulum swinging back, the rich are in for some very rough times in the near future as America takes back what they've taken for the last five years.

[acmejack]

7. This is the SINGLE issue the GOP kicks the D's ass on.

Each and every time. The uneducated voter hears all he or she needs to right there.

[twaddler01]

13. Our tax system taxes more on poor and less on rich

It doesn't really seem logical to me...

[fshrink]

22. Yes it is:

I think it's George Bernard Shaw who said "One needs to take the money where it is, that is with the poor. It is is true that the poor don't have much money. But they are very numerous."

[Post]

15. Good Living from Arthur WInston

Here's a guy who just died 100 years old...worked , happily, for 72 years for the LA MTA. Great story. Another AMerica...fading fast.
http://postanapology.blogspot.com/2006/04/hooray-for-arthur-winston-employee-of.html#links

[LynnTheDem]

16. those with high incomes and big businesses don't pay enough

So they voted for bush who plans to keep CUTTING taxes for the RICH.

Brilliant.

[fshrink]

19. That's god' will. Take it and shut up.

[Ilsa]

21. Does even occur to people who wanted these tax cuts that

the infrastructure was already crumbling and needs replacing or fixed? Or that federal funding to schools would be cut or states would have to take up more of the slack, which means higher sales and property taxes? No, of course not. That involves using one's brain.

[admsitio]

23. THE MEANING IS SIMPLE

MORE MONEY FOR THOSE WITH HIGH INCOMES, LESS MONEY FOR SOCIAL PLANS...
I HATE BUSH,I TELL YOU THAT?