A majority of Americans believe they are already taxed too much and oppose any new tax increases, according to the results of two new polls. The polls come as the Biden administration considers raising taxes to fund massive new programs.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently said President Joe Biden is considering tax increases on wealthy Americans and businesses, and may consider a direct wealth tax to pay for future projects. Attention has turned to how Biden will find funding for the next major piece of legislation being pushed – an infrastructure plan.
In an interview with the Sacramento Bee, Rep. John Garamendi, D-California, confirmed that Biden is considering raising taxes on fuel consumption and possibly carbon emissions to help pay for the infrastructure plan. No official numbers are available so far, but analysts expect the plan to be in the $2 trillion to $4 trillion range.
Biden himself confirmed in a recent interview that he is looking to raise taxes.
But according to a new Just the News/Rasmussen poll, interest in any new taxes (regardless of spending targets) is waning among the American public. The survey showed that 52 percent of U.S. respondents said they are currently opposed to any tax increase by name.
Among reasons explaining tax increases, tax increases targeted at spending on infrastructure programs received the most support (28 percent), followed by initiatives to reduce climate change (19 percent) and finally deficit and debt reduction (16 percent).
Rasmussen conducted a second poll to gauge whether Americans feel they are paying a “fair” tax rate.
The questionnaire included the following question: “Do you pay more than your fair share of taxes compared to those who earn more or less than you?” Fifty-one percent of American adults surveyed said they believe they pay more than their fair share of taxes. The percentage of Americans who feel overtaxed is down from 59 percent last year, the highest level since 2008.
The Rasmussen poll also shows that only 27 percent of Americans believe they pay no more than their fair share of taxes, while 22 percent say they are not sure.
Meanwhile, Biden vowed to get Democrats to vote for tax increases, including re-increasing previously slashed corporate taxes and raising taxes on wealthy Americans.
Asked by ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos whether he would raise taxes on high-income earners who benefited from former President Donald Trump‘s tax cuts, Biden replied that anyone earning more than $400,000 would see a tax increase ranging from small to significant.
He added, “If you make less than $400,000, you’re not going to see even a penny increase in federal taxes.”
Asked if his tax plan would have the support of Republicans, Biden replied that he “probably wouldn’t get it.”
Biden said, “But I will get the Democrats to vote for a tax increase.” “If we return the tax rate to what it was when (George) Bush Jr. was president – the top federal tax rate was 39.6 percent – that would be an increase of $230 billion.”
Biden’s proposed tax increase plan would likely be part of an infrastructure bill. The bill is already opposed by Senate Republicans. Democrats were able to pass the bill through an expedited process called “Budget reconciliation” – a special procedure that allows Democrats to bypass the legislative hurdle of having to vote 60 times to pass the bill.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, said at a news conference on Tuesday (March 16), “I think the ‘infrastructure plan’ will be called Trojan Horse. Inside this ‘Trojan Horse,’ virtually all taxes have gone up, just like Senator Scott (R-Okla.) and others have been talking about.”
McConnell said he expects Democrats to use the “budget reconciliation” process, as they just did to pass a massive $1.9 trillion Epidemic relief package. The plan received zero support from Republicans in the Senate, but was still passed by Democrats.
McConnell said, “They’ve got another one of these bills that can be used. I suspect that they will try to cram everything they want into this bill and call it an ‘infrastructure bill.'” “I have every confidence that they will do that because I don’t think that anybody on our (Republican) side is going to have any interest in raising taxes.”
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