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DNC Instapoll: Cut Taxes for the Rich

August 28, 2008 RSS Feed Print

Jimmy P. at the DNC—I took another poll of 24 DNC delegates. I asked them "What should 'the rich' pay in income taxes." Here is what they told me:

50 percent said "25 percent"
25 percent said "20 percent"
12 percent said "30 percent"
12 percent said "35 percent"

Average: 25.6 percent

Me: Of course, 25.6 percent is actually lower than what the top rate is today. Barack Obama, by contrast, wants to raise it to 39.6 percent. None of the delegates said that the rate should be higher than 35 percent. That is exactly what the top rate is currently thanks to the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003. And a fair number of people thought that income tax rates for wealthy Americans were actually lower than for middle class folks. I think they were confusing capital gains rates with income tax rates thanks to Warren Buffet saying he paid a lower tax rate than his secretary. A fair number of people also thought that as long as rich people paid more in total taxes, it didn't matter what the rates were. That's right, they like the idea of a flat tax. Fascinating stuff.

Tags:: Democratic National Convention,; wealth,; taxes,; polls

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AnAEODpN of 1:02PM August 10, 2009

Wealthy Americans are more able to take advantage of tax breaks such as the capital gains tax because most of the poor cannot afford to invest in these assets.
Also, it's only fair that the cap on social security tax be removed because those making less than $100,000 (usually the middle class and poor) pay social security tax on every dollar earned whereas the rich do not. If social security is in danger of becoming insolvent for the future generations, then it doesn't make sense to have a cap. The cap was set in place because the rich could not collect above a certain amount, yet now that arguement does not apply since many of today's youth are paying for social security and they may not be able to collect even a penny of what they pay into it.
And as far as the income tax rate, it doesn't matter that the rich are paying more of the total tax than the poor. This is like comparing apples to oranges. A millionaire subject to a 35% income tax rate pays $350,000 in taxes. It will take about seven middle income people earning $50,000 a piece taxed at 100% to put in $350,000. It shouldn't matter that the rich are paying more of the total tax than the poor.

of WA 8:38PM September 22, 2008

From your discussion of the delegate's answers, it seems you meant to ask about what marginal tax rate should be paid by the rich. But the marginal rate is actually far different than the average rate - 20% is actually near the average tax rate for 'the rich'.
The lesson - imprecise questions yield imprecise answers leading to little meaningful value gained.

tegwar of VA 10:07AM September 03, 2008

DNC Instapoll: Cut Taxes for the Rich

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