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Ichingcarpenter

(36,988 posts)
Tue May 5, 2015, 05:07 AM May 2015

Gallup Americans want the government to "redistribute wealth by heavy taxes on the rich"

Americans are eager to see the government "spread the wealth around" through heavy taxes on rich people. This, according to Gallup, is a relatively new phenomenon, with a clear preference for soaking the rich really only emerging in the past four or five years:

On a different polling measure, Gallup finds that at least since the mid-1980s a large majority of Americans have expressed a preference for a flatter distribution of income. But that's something that could, at least hypothetically, be achieved in a whole variety of ways. Taxing the rich in order to redistribute income to the working class is a much more specific idea and, naturally, a more contentious one.

Not surprisingly, Republicans and rich people are not particularly excited about this idea, while Democrats and the poor love it.

But in some ways the most interesting demographic sub-sample is the age one. Respondents ages 18 to 34 are supportive of redistributive taxation by a 59-38 margin, while those over 55 are much more skeptical — 47 percent say tax the rich, and 50 percent disagree. In other words, the age stratification of American politics isn't just about gay marriage or marijuana; it cuts to the core economic policy divides in Washington and state capitals around the country.


https://cdn0.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ipn3W5CAumGqQq6_bdagaNWyOQo=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/3668740/4fzmtdiewkqh5043cde7tq.0.png


http://www.vox.com/2015/5/4/8548009/redistribution-poll

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Gallup Americans want the government to "redistribute wealth by heavy taxes on the rich" (Original Post) Ichingcarpenter May 2015 OP
I'm hoping that the young people LuvNewcastle May 2015 #1
It's excellent young people are seeing this abyss we're sailing into which RKP5637 May 2015 #2
Restore progressive taxation on very high incomes JHB May 2015 #3
I'd just stop the corporate subsidies JonLP24 May 2015 #4
Well then, if we want it to happen, we've got to quit electing Erich Bloodaxe BSN May 2015 #5
No, Americans want the rich to, at long, long, long last, start paying their fair share. merrily May 2015 #6
I object to the phrase "soaking the rich." nt cyberswede May 2015 #7
Why's that rock May 2015 #11
I guess, to me, it implies obtaining the funds unfairly. cyberswede May 2015 #12
Fair enough rock May 2015 #14
I have known plenty sorefeet May 2015 #8
This is why Bernie Sanders might have broader appeal than people think. lostnfound May 2015 #9
This message was self-deleted by its author packman May 2015 #10
I agree. Definitions though are tricky whatthehey May 2015 #13
I say bring back the Ike Age when it comes to top marginal rates. Indexed for inflation, of course. hifiguy May 2015 #15
It's not 'spreading the wealth around.' Aristus May 2015 #16
We need to change the "Redistribute Wealth" meme... SomethingFishy May 2015 #17
Gallup is usually not our friend Ichingcarpenter May 2015 #18
It's Frank Luntz. He comes up with these fucking polar opposite phrases SomethingFishy May 2015 #19

LuvNewcastle

(16,846 posts)
1. I'm hoping that the young people
Tue May 5, 2015, 05:18 AM
May 2015

turn this country around. It's looking good right now. I hope they get active and stay active. We need resistance to the way we're headed now.

RKP5637

(67,108 posts)
2. It's excellent young people are seeing this abyss we're sailing into which
Tue May 5, 2015, 06:28 AM
May 2015

will put most people in this country into a dystopia in the not too far future if the economic imbalance is not corrected.

JHB

(37,160 posts)
3. Restore progressive taxation on very high incomes
Tue May 5, 2015, 06:37 AM
May 2015

It was eliminated under Reagan, and has never been restored.


cyberswede

(26,117 posts)
12. I guess, to me, it implies obtaining the funds unfairly.
Tue May 5, 2015, 02:13 PM
May 2015

I don't think high tax rates for the rich are unfair.

sorefeet

(1,241 posts)
8. I have known plenty
Tue May 5, 2015, 07:56 AM
May 2015

of poor people who just seem to worship the rich. Kiss ass, they think the rich will trickle down. The poor also need to learn the rich are not their friends. If the rich cared one iota, they would not be rich and the poor would not be poor. There would be humane balance.

lostnfound

(16,179 posts)
9. This is why Bernie Sanders might have broader appeal than people think.
Tue May 5, 2015, 09:59 AM
May 2015

Maybe I'm crazy (I do tend to support the dreamy idealists like Kucinich, Howard Dean, and oh yeah, Obama), but there is a LOT of anger among the middle class about the game being so heavily rigged in favor of the rich that they can no longer make a living.

Response to Ichingcarpenter (Original post)

whatthehey

(3,660 posts)
13. I agree. Definitions though are tricky
Tue May 5, 2015, 02:26 PM
May 2015

"Rich" always seems to mean "noticeably more than I make", regardless of the number implied in the last two words.

To a minimum wage worker a $60k accountant is rich; to the latter a $110k engineer is rich, to them a $250k vet, ad infinitum.

Then we have location to consider. That engineer lives a life of sybaritic excess in rural Alabama, while they had better choose between a poky 1br apt or a hour-long commute moving to Silicon Valley. Do they stay rich in both places?

There are many mathematical ways to define rich, but few that will pass the test of the inevitable "Harry and Louise" style ad campaign from opponents.

I should pay a higher real tax rate than people making a lot less than me, and the same in reverse. It's where to set the marginal brackets that is the problem. Eventually too we have to discuss maximums. The 50s-70s brain drain in Britain was not imaginary, and is seeing a smaller echo today.

 

hifiguy

(33,688 posts)
15. I say bring back the Ike Age when it comes to top marginal rates. Indexed for inflation, of course.
Tue May 5, 2015, 03:31 PM
May 2015

Without the loopholes of the day.

Marginal Tax Rate on Regular Income over $400,000: 92% - 91%

Maximum Tax Rate on Long-Term Capital Gains: 25%

JFK

Marginal Tax Rate on Regular Income over $400,000: 91%

Maximum Tax Rate on Long-Term Capital Gains: 25%

LBJ

Marginal Tax Rate on Regular Income: Over $400,000: 91% - Over $200,000: 75.25%

Maximum Tax Rate on Long-Term Capital Gains: 25% - 26.9%

Nixon (believe this or don't, it's true)

Marginal Tax Rate on Regular Income over $200,000: 77% - 70%

Maximum Tax Rate on Long-Term Capital Gains: 27.5% - 36.5%


Make those rotten, spoiled fuckers scream like little girls on a roller coaster.

Aristus

(66,380 posts)
16. It's not 'spreading the wealth around.'
Tue May 5, 2015, 03:35 PM
May 2015

It's returning it to the people who earned it. All the idle-rich billionaire assholes do for work is sit at the top of the economic heap collecting the money other people work for.

Screw the rich. It's time to return to progressive taxation...

SomethingFishy

(4,876 posts)
17. We need to change the "Redistribute Wealth" meme...
Tue May 5, 2015, 03:39 PM
May 2015

It's not "redistribution", it's giving a fair share to the people who actually do all the fucking work. I'm sorry, if you can't pay your employees a living wage then your shareholders can eat shit. Along with your CEO's and upper management.

Ichingcarpenter

(36,988 posts)
18. Gallup is usually not our friend
Tue May 5, 2015, 03:41 PM
May 2015

because of their framing of the conversation of the poll questions and their titles........... yes I agree with you, on that meme





but I'll take this one as a plus for the 99

SomethingFishy

(4,876 posts)
19. It's Frank Luntz. He comes up with these fucking polar opposite phrases
Tue May 5, 2015, 03:44 PM
May 2015

that end up being used as the standard. Death Panels. Death Tax. Right To Work. Entitlements. All mean the opposite of what they say yet Gallup, along with all the major news outlets, go right ahead and add them to the lexicon.

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