Only 26% Of Americans Want Tax Cut Extensions For Wealthy

I think it’s important to know just how hard our elected officials are working, and maybe more importantly, just for whom they are working so hard.

A recent survey conducted by CBS News indicates that only 26% of American adults want to extend the Bush tax cuts for those families making over $250K yearly. This is the most recent poll, and previous polls showed the percentage wanting to extend the tax cuts for all to be higher than 26%, but never more than 40%, and always below that percentage wishing to let them expire for the rich.
But let us not be deceived – $250K is not, in practice, actually $250K. That is the dollar amount only for those taking the standard deductions. The reality is that very few people making that much money file a 1040EZ. Most people in this category itemize, deducting mortgage interest, state and local taxes, business expenses and many other possible deductions and tax credits. Therefore, families making well in excess of $300,000 would not see a tax increase at all. According to the Tax Policy Center, only about 2% of American households would end up paying higher tax rates in the event they expired only for the wealthy. And only 3% of businesses would be affected, with many of these not what most people think of as a “small business” in either scope or size.
Besides, as if the Reagan and Bush the Lesser Recessions were not proof enough, statistic prove that the wealthy do not “reinvest” these tax savings back into the economy – they hoard it. Look at it this way: if you were to inherit $25,000 from a rich and benevolent relative, you’d probably spend almost every penny of it by paying debts, upgrading your car, sending your kids to college, donating to your church, etc., etc. However, if a multi-millionaire were to inherit the same $25,000, it would most likely go into his investment portfolio. It is a fact that the working class spend a much higher percentage of their income than the wealthy.

Though the official numbers won’t be out for a while yet, we do know that the number of registered Democrats who voted last month was markedly less than the number of registered Republicans that voted. I simply continue to wonder how long it will take for those working-class Republican voters to realize for whom their candidates are working so hard.