Most Americans Say Tax Rich to Balance Budget: Poll

by Reuters via Common Dreams
January 4, 2011 

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/01/04-8

81% Say Tax Rich or Cut Military; 3% Say Cut Social Security

Most Americans think the United States should raise taxes for
the rich to balance the budget, according to a 60
Minutes/Vanity Fair poll released on Monday.

President Barack Obama last month signed into law a two-year
extension of Bush-era tax cuts for millions of Americans,
including the wealthiest, in a compromise with Republicans.

Republicans, who this week take control of the House of
Representatives, want to extend all Bush-era tax cuts
"permanently" for the middle class and wealthier Americans.
They are also demanding spending cuts to curb the $1.3
trillion deficit.

Sixty-one percent of Americans polled would rather see taxes
for the wealthy increased as a first step to tackling the
deficit, the poll showed.

The next most popular way -- chosen by 20 percent -- was to
cut defense spending.

Four percent would cut the Medicare government health
insurance program for the elderly, and 3 percent would cut
the Social Security retirement program, the poll showed.

Asked which part of the world they would fix first, the
largest proportion of respondents -- 36 percent -- chose
Washington, compared with 23 percent who picked the Middle
East and 14 percent who chose Haiti.

The poll included a random sample of 1,067 adults across the
United States from November 29 to December 2. The margin of
error may be plus or minus 3 percentage points, 60
Minutes/Vanity Fair said.

(Reporting by Kristina Cooke; Editing by Daniel Trotta and
Peter Cooney)

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