Opinion: On Tax Day, 63% of Americans say tax hikes loom, and Sarah Palin would appreciate a donation
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It being the Ides of April you may hear a little something today about federal taxes -- people mailing their tax forms, moaning about them, protesting them and growing big government in Washington.
Former Gov. Sarah Palin, who will enjoy some greatly increased tax liabilities for the 2009 and 2010 years, spoke at the latest Boston Tea Party rally Wednesday. And at the same time her political arm, SarahPAC, took the occasion to send out a plea for voluntary donations to fund her political activities and allies.
Politico reported she collected $400,000 in first-quarter donations, spent $409,000 and still has $919,000 in the bank, pending receipts from this ongoing drive.
Here’s what the Republican told supporters in an e-mail:
According to the Tax Foundation, Americans worked for over three months of this year, from January 1 to April 9, before they earned enough to pay their federal, state, and local tax obligations. That’s nearly 100 days out of the year to pay government, before we start earning money for our families and small businesses! Did you know that Americans will pay more in taxes in 2010 than we do for food, clothing, and shelter combined? The Tax Policy Center projects that 47% of American households will ...
... pay no federal income taxes this year. Either their income doesn’t qualify, or they qualified for enough deductions and credits to have no income tax liability for the year. In fact, the bottom 40% of households on average will net money from the federal government in payments and services. It’s time to bring sanity to our tax system and to simplify the tax code.
Speaking of taxes, a new Gallup Poll finds that 63 out of every 100 Americans expect their taxes to increase in the next 12 months, a reasonable assumption given the ongoing outgo by the Democratic administration of Barack Obama.
Four percent of Americans, who must have been watching old episodes of ‘Jeopardy’ the last 15 months, said they thought their taxes would be going down soon. ‘’Hopeless Causes’ for $200, Alex.’
Gallup recalled that it has asked this same tax expectation question in the past. Fifteen months into the Democratic Jimmy Carter administration, a similar 6 out of 10 Americans anticipated higher taxes. Seven percent thought they could drop.
Then again in late 1994 after the Republican party stunned Bill Clinton’s administration by winning control of both houses of Congress for the first time in four decades, Gallup asked the tax expectation question. Thirty-five percent said they expected a tax cut then, while 41% saw no change.
Funny, isn’t it, how popular expectations seem tied to party?
-- Andrew Malcolm
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