“Tax cuts for the wealthy.” We hear the phrase repeatedly from the lips of Democratic class warrior demagogues. I was therefore more than a little interested to see it repeated verbatim this morning in an allegedly unbiased MSM report, this one by the Associated Press’ Will Lester.
Tax cuts for the wealthy have been at the heart of a bitter partisan tax debate during much of this Bush administration.
That's Mr. Lester doing an impression of Senators Kennedy and Kerry. I was even more intrigued when the sentence disappeared from the later version, shown here at ABC News. An editor must have raised his eyebrows just like I did. But that’s not all. Let’s compare the first two paragraphs. First the early version:
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Almost as certain as death and taxes is the public's feeling that the U.S. income tax system is not fair. An Ipsos Poll released this week found almost six of 10 people, 58 percent, say the system is unjust, a number that is virtually unchanged from two decades ago.
People think the middle class, the self-employed and small businesses pay too much in taxes, the poll found. And they think those with high incomes and big businesses don't pay enough. The survey was conducted in the days before the mid-April deadline for filing income tax returns.
Now the later update:
WASHINGTON Apr 15, 2006 (AP)— Taxes rise and fall from one administration to the next, but the unpopularity of the income tax system is constant. An Ipsos Poll finds that almost six of 10 people say the system is unfair, a percentage virtually unchanged from two decades ago.
The perception of unfairness is spread fairly evenly across income groups though their reasons may differ. More than half of those who make less than $50,000 a year said it's unfair, and more than six in 10 of those who make more than $50,000 felt that way.
The change is more than cosmetic. The much more neutral and less class conscious language used in the updated second paragraph gives the impression that all income levels think they're overtaxed at about the same rate - which the poll does indeed show. The opening of the early version gives a far different impression, that the rich are quite satisfied with the system while the poor and middle class are disturbed by their unfair burden.
There's another section that disappeared in the later version:
Six in 10 said high-income families were paying too little in taxes. But 20 years ago, almost eight in 10 said high income families were paying too little.
This indicates that 40% of Americans believe the higher income group - which is only about 2% of the population - is paying their "fair share." That's remarkable. And then poof, it was gone.
It's also worth noting that, when asked what percentage of their income the wealthy should be paying, a large majority answer less than 30%, or less than the current top tax rate even after the Bush tax rate cuts.
Most Americans Say Our Top Rate is Too High
Poll after poll shows most Americans think that 30 percent of income, not one-third, is the most government should take from taxpayers, even the very wealthy. Here are some samples:
- On March 12, 2001, Zogby International asked 1,000 Americans the following question: Suppose you earned one million dollars in your job. Which of the following tax rates do you think would be fair to you and the federal government – less than 10 percent; 10-20 percent; 20- 30 percent; or greater than 30 percent?” Eight out of ten responded less than 30 percent (13 percent answered Not Sure).
- On March 16, 2001, Fox News asked 904 registered voters “What is the maximum percentage of a person’s income that should go to taxes – that’s all taxes – state, federal, and local? Out of every dollar, what’s the highest percentage anybody should pay?” Again, eight out of ten responded less than 30 percent (12 percent answered Not Sure).
This is data that perhaps Mr. Lester could consider next time he attempts to demagogue write about the "fairness" of income taxes.
Submitted to Wizbang's COTT LIX.
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