Americans Say Taxes Are NOT Too High

The Republican mantra for years now has been that taxes, especially income taxes, are too high in the United States and must be cut. Even though taxes are at the lowest rates since World War II (as is the income the government gets from taxes), there seems to be no end to their demand for further tax cuts. Of course, when they talk about tax cuts they are mainly talking about further cuts for the richest Americans. Like the last tax cut they initiated (the Bush tax cuts), working Americans had their taxes cut by a pittance while the rich received huge tax cuts.

But it looks like a majority of Americans aren't buying into the Republican lies about taxes anymore. Two new polls, released just before the tax filing date, shows that a majority of Americans believe that the amount they pay in taxes is fair. The first poll is the GfK/Roper/Associated Press survey done from March 24th through March 28th of 1,001 Americans. Here is what they said:

DO YOU THINK THE AMOUNT OF TAXES YOU PAY IS FAIR OR UNFAIR?
Fair...............54%
Unfair...............46%

And a second poll found very similar results. Amazingly, this second poll was done for the bastion of Republican propaganda -- Fox News. This poll, conducted April 3rd through April 5th of 914 registered voters, showed:

DO YOU FELL YOU PAY MORE, LESS, OR YOUR FAIR SHARE OF TAXES?
More than is fair...............43%
Less than is fair...............3%
My fair share...............52%
Don't know...............2%

Other polls have recently shown that even larger majorities think the taxes on the wealthiest Americans should be raised to help balance the federal budget. The Republicans may have been successful in convincing Americans that the deficit is out of control (and it is very high), but their constant insistence that taxes are too high and must be lowered further is starting to lose its appeal -- especially in light of Republican proposals to abolish Medicare and make huge cuts to social programs.