Poll: 68 percent say tax system unfairly benefits wealthy

As Tuesday's deadline to file federal income tax returns looms, nearly seven in 10 say the government's tax system unfairly benefits the wealthy while working to the disadvantage of others.

According to a new poll from CNN/ORC, some 68 percent agree that "the current tax system benefits the rich and is unfair to ordinary workers," while just under three in 10 disagreed with that characterization. 

About half of Americans said they paid about the right amount of income taxes, with 45 percent arguing their taxes were too high. Some 3 percent of respondents said they thought they should be forking over more of their paychecks to Uncle Sam.

Republicans were far more likely to say their income taxes were too high — some 53 percent did, compared to 41 percent for Democrats. Of independents, 44 percent say they pay too much in taxes.

Middle-aged taxpayers were the most likely to say their taxes were too high, with just over half of those 35 to 64 saying they paid too much. Meanwhile, 18- to 34-year-olds and those over 65 were substantially more likely to say they paid the right amount in taxes.

Those numbers are actually substantially lower across the board than in the 1990s, before the Bush-era tax cuts went into place. Back then, more than 60 percent of Americans said their taxes were too high.

The CNN poll was released just a day after the Senate defeated President Obama's proposed Buffett Rule, which would have raised the effective taxation rate on millionaires by increasing the amount paid on investment income.

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