Despite concern about the country’s historic-level budget deficit, Americans are not willing to pay more in taxes to reduce it.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of American Adults shows that just 20% of Adults would be willing to pay higher taxes to help reduce the federal budget deficit. Seventy-one percent (71%) would not be willing to do so.
Gee, I hope someone tells them that they can always pay more tax money IF they want to so much.
There is a line on your tax forms for adding more than you owe.
Michael Moore probably just never saw it.
I remember back East when one gov. made a public note of this a few years ago.
No one took him up on it at all.
I think the majority of Americans would support a tax increase if there was a dollar for dollar spent reduction.
For every dollar the government brings in more, the government would have to spend a dollar less.
I am all for tax increases, the moment the government stops spending. Increasing taxes doesn’t solve the problem and here’s why:
1. During good times, the government finds “new” ways to spend money. Often times this money also requires maintenance money to follow on (think roads, buildings, etc). They neglect to account for this long term.
2. During downturns, the government cries poverty and a need to raise taxes.
3. Taxes are raised. Long term, as the economy improves, the revenues begin increasing.
4. See step 1.
The problem is the cycle. Government believes it needs to fix every problem (war on poverty, war on drugs, global warming, etc). Eventually, all that will be left after this cycle is government.
Add to the problem, the government deficit could not be covered with just tax increases, and the real problem is revealed. The government is addicted to spending. If you look at Keynesian economic policies, the government should stimulate during bad times and reduce spending during good times. But the government hasn’t done that.
So, tax increases for all only if reduction of government spending for all. That would address the problem and rather quickly.
I was talking to one of my friends at work the other day who was complaining about taxes. A little background, I live in Wisconsin where we know that most people are one side or the other of the Scott Walker budget debate. I’m firmly on Walkers side but my employees who are all unionized, including my friend, have been to the capital protesting, bashing Walker and the Koch Bros and all the other liberal talking points.
Anyway, for the 2nd year in a row he has owed the feds over a 1,000 bucks come tax time and the person filling out his taxes told him that since he owed that much the government could actually fine him. He flipped out.
He started ranting about how he works every day, has high property taxes which we do, and that there are people who don’t pay taxes federal taxes but stil get a refund yadda yadda yadda.
I have to admit I found it a bit humerous seeing as how one of the many things he was protesting in Madison, and likely not understanding that, was the keeping of the status quo tax structure in Wisconsin.
I told him that was wealth redistribution at it’s finest, where the gov’t knows best how they should spend YOUR money, not you. So I threw some numbers at him regarding how many people actually pay no federal taxes while we foot the bill. He was stunned. I left it at that but it is surprising how many people are really not paying attention to WTF is going on in this nation and are just following the crowd.
@Bobachek:
It’s not surprising to hear of someone else with similar experiences to mine when discussing taxes with union employees. Typically, the ones I am around at work, are hard working, gun-owning, bible-thumping, fiscally responsible(on a personal level), and generally decent people. The rate at which they vote for liberal democrats, therefore, is quite astounding. It’s almost like that come election time, they put aside their own ideals and views and do simply as their management tells them to do.
And they do so while their union management continues to vote themselves higher and higher pay and benefits, requiring a lessening of pension benefits for the union members themselves. Then, they wrongly accuse the actual employer of being greedy and demand higher pay, all at the urging of those union managers.
So, who is being fiscally irresponsible? Who desires the higher taxes? And when they get the higher taxes, resulting in some increased revenue initially, what do they do with it? It’s liberals, and if given higher revenues for the government, they don’t use it to pay down any debt, or reduce any deficit. They simply see it as more money they can include in legislation to pay back their campaign contributors.
My union friends do not see the truth. Instead, they tend to parrot the left’s talking points, given to them by their union handlers. It is a sorry thing to see.
Radical plan here; we live within our means… For the foreseeable future the federal government spends only 90% of our tax revenue, the other 10% goes to paying down our accumulated debt. After we get back in the black, it’s balanced budget ammendment time. Yes, that will entail massive cuts to federal programs, and it will be painful; but, people will learn to adjust. The more we treat our debt “hangover” with more “hair-of-the-dog” debt spending, the worse it’ll be when the “bottle” of global credit finally runs dry. But, we seem to be lacking anything resembling a spine in 99% of the ploiticians in Washington D.C.
If only 20% support paying for our government then… 80% of Americans are deadbeats and don’t pay their bills. They just want to push it onto future generations.
@blast:
There are many ways to look at the results of the poll, but what you’ve stated isn’t one of them.
When discussing any increasing of taxes, most people will be against it, especially when the spending by the government is the real culprit in why the deficits are so high.