By Doug Bandow
Six of ten Americans want to limit government’s take of their incomes to half. That’s way too much, but at least it’s a start.
According to Rassmussen Reports:
Most Americans favor a law that would limit the amount of taxes paid to state, local and federal governments so that no one would pay more than 50% of their total income in taxes.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 61% of adults nationwide favor such a limit. Nineteen percent (19%) are opposed, and another 19% are not sure.
A majority of all age groups under 65 favor a 50% tax ceiling. Among senior citizens, 41% favor that limit, 20% are opposed, and 39% are not sure.
Any limit would be better than nothing. Now it’s just the interest groups against the taxpayers, attempting to mulct as much of our incomes as possible. Cap the looters’ take, and then they have to start fighting each other.
Moreover, most Americans oppose new taxes because they realize that any new revenue is far more likely to be wasted on new special interest programs than in cutting the deficit. Another Rasmussen poll is illuminating:
President Obama may have to go back on his campaign promise against raising taxes on Americans making less than $250,000 a year in order to reduce the country’s record budget deficit.
But a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that even if the president and Congress raise taxes to reduce the federal deficit, 58% of voters think they are more likely to spend the money on new government programs.
Just 23% believe they are more likely to use the new tax money for deficit reduction, and another 19% aren’t sure.
Only two percent (2%) of voters say Congress and the president should consider just tax increases when looking for ways to cut the federal deficit. Thirty-five percent (35%) say they should only consider spending cuts. Most voters (52%) believe they should consider a mix of the two.
Separate polling shows that the vast majority of voters nationwide (83%) of Americans say the size of the federal budget deficit is due more to the unwillingness of politicians to cut government spending than to the reluctance of taxpayers to pay more in taxes.
We need some budget clear-cutting in Washington. Everything needs to go: pork, corporate welfare, endless grants for most any purpose, foreign aid, military subsidies for rich allies, wars for social engineering failed foreign states, pervasive income redistribution, and social programs that have turned into middle class welfare.
Only by getting serious on budget-cutting will we be able to cut the deficit and eventually lower taxes.
Doug Bandow, American Conservative Defense Alliance