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Gallup: Half of country expects tax increase next year
Roughly half of the people in the United States expect their taxes to rise during the next year, a new Gallup poll found.
With the Bush tax rates, among other provisions, scheduled to expire at the end of the year, the polling company reported just 3 percent of respondents thought their tax bill will actually decrease. About 4 in 10 don’t see a change either way on the horizon.
In all, Gallup, in a survey with a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points, found that 53 percent expect an increase in their taxes.
The poll was released a day after income taxes were due, and less than nine months before the U.S. economy could hit what Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and some analysts are calling a “fiscal cliff.”
Gallup also found that around half of respondents at all income levels predicted their taxes would go up, while Republicans were more likely than Democrats to believe the same.
A recent poll from The Hill found that 45 percent of likely voters also said their taxes had gone up in the last year, compared to just 12 percent who said they had seen a decrease.
Still, few Washington observers expect policymakers to strike a deal over those matters before November’s election, setting the stage for a wild lame-duck session.
With Washington Democrats pushing the "Buffett Rule" recently, Gallup’s new poll also found that 6 in 10 people think the highest earners and corporations pay too little in taxes.
The Buffett Rule, named after the billionaire investor Warren Buffett, states that those making more than $1 million a year should pay a higher tax rate than middle-class families.
A solid majority of those surveyed also believe that the middle class already pays its fair share in taxes, while the findings were more mixed when it came to lower-income households.
Congressional Republicans have often latched onto statistics showing that a large portion of people in the U.S. — a projected 46 percent in 2011, according to the Tax Policy Center — pay no federal income taxes. (The center also points out that many of those people do pay other taxes, including sales taxes and payroll taxes)
Both chambers are holding tax votes they believe will underscore their political message this campaign season.
Republicans blocked legislation modeled after the Buffett Rule this week, but Democrats have suggested they will hold repeated votes on the issue.
House Republicans are scheduled to vote on a proposal that would give businesses with less than 500 employees a 20 percent tax deduction, and they also are expected to hold votes on Bush-era tax policies before the fall election.
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