Taxing the rich now supported by 53% of Republicans in new poll

[DemocracyMouse]

----> 53% of Republicans
----> 77% of Democrats
now want the essence of the progressive paradigm: Taxing the richest to pay for social programs. Even the wealthy in both parties are saying enough is enough.

So that leads to a very straightforward conclusion (for those who aren't drinking): Progressives, even Republicans pretending to be progressive when it suits him like Trump, are the most electable.

I hope this lights a fire under ALL democrats. Get your New Deal pajamas on and dance.... oh, and make it a Green New Deal so we can go friggin' solar already. California, Australia and the Amazon burning and Venice is sinking.... and too many people are doing 2-3 jobs to make ends meet.

See below:

‘See? Not Radical’: New poll shows nearly two-thirds of Americans support a wealth tax to fund universal programs

January 10, 2020
By Common Dreams

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/01/see-not-radical-new-poll-shows-nearly-two-thirds-of-americans-support-a-wealth-tax-to-fund-universal-programs/

“It’s simple. The majority of Americans believe that we should tax the rich.”

Supporters of a wealth tax to combat persistent economic inequality in the U.S. pointed to recent polling by Reuters/Ipsos showing that nearly two-thirds of respondents support taxing the rich at higher rates to support programs that would benefit all Americans.

Sixty-four percent of respondents said they either strongly or “somewhat” agreed with the statement, “The very rich should contribute an extra share of their total wealth each year to support public programs.”

The sentiment found support across race, gender, and income demographics as well as from across the political spectrum. Seventy-seven percent of Democrats agreed that the rich should be taxed at a higher rate, while 53% of Republicans agreed.

[DemocracyMouse]

1. I blinked too!.... Are Republicans finally getting the cotton out of their ears?

[blm]

4. Hey, some Dems even ridicule the idea. Fewer and fewer, thankfully.

But, that just may be mere political posturing for the primary, then they’ll embrace it, too, soon enough.

Great New Yorker article on Patriotic Millionaires. A must read for this issue.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/01/06/the-ultra-wealthy-who-argue-that-they-should-be-paying-higher-taxes?

The Ultra-Wealthy Who Argue That They Should Be Paying Higher Taxes
.......
In February, Morris Pearl, a former executive at the asset-management firm BlackRock and the chair of the Patriotic Millionaires, wrote an article for the group’s Web site expressing support for Elizabeth Warren’s proposed wealth tax, which would impose a tariff of two per cent on fortunes greater than fifty million dollars and three per cent on those above a billion. (Warren recently doubled her proposed billion-plus tax rate, to six per cent.) The group helped develop a bill, introduced in the House of Representatives in November, that would impose a surtax on the country’s highest earners, and it is working on other legislation, including a bill that would raise the estate tax.
.......

[highplainsdem]

2. That poll question is so badly worded almost anyone could think it just means progressive income

tax like we have now, as opposed to a flat tax.

And there's no way to know what the people who said they "somewhat" agree were really agreeing with.

It would have been a much more useful poll if it had specifically referred to a wealth tax (and certain percentages at certain income levels), in addition to progressive income tax rates.

[crazytown]

6. How about

61% support a wealth tax on households that have a net worth of at least $50 million, as championed by Warren.
45% support Ocasio-Cortez’s proposed 70% marginal tax rate on income over $10 million.

from you favorite pollster, Morning Consult
https://morningconsult.com/2019/02/04/warrens-proposed-tax-on-wealthy-draws-more-support-than-ocasio-cortezs/


NYT/ Survey Monkey November: 63% support for a wealth tax, (66% in July), including 57% of Republicans.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/29/business/economy/economy-politics-survey.html

[highplainsdem]

7. I'd guess much of the support for the wealth tax is based on ignorance of the problems other

countries had with it.

https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2019/02/26/698057356/if-a-wealth-tax-is-such-a-good-idea-why-did-europe-kill-theirs

[crazytown]

8. We're Americans!

We can get the tax right. Just because those foreigners have failed 15 years after their Revolution, the French crowned an emperor. What would they know!

[highplainsdem]

9. Don't think so. And unfortunately "we're Americans" too often means we have little idea what's

going on elsewhere, how political/economic experiments have worked in other countries, etc.

[crazytown]

10. From my perch in Sydney, I would have to agree with you, but

the American Experiment is still underway, the European Union could fail by the next generation.

[redqueen]

13. That's my view as well.

There seems to be an awful lot of optimism here that somehow the armies of lawyers and lobbyists will suddenly fail where they never have before.

I would love a wealth tax that worked - unfortunately even the progressive tax system we have now doesn't work. I sure wouldn't bet on this tax magically working out great when when we can't even get the progressive taxation system we've had in place for years to work.

I think learning from the experience of other, more progressive countries is the wisest course of action.

[Hoyt]

3. Good sign, although not sure upper income folks are ready to pay

what it would take to fund some candidates promises. In fact, I bet a lot of higher middle income folks are concerned.

[tirebiter]

5. That's progressive taxation

Used to be the norm because it makes sense any way you look at it. The disagreement was with the Wealth Tax. How’s that polling just outta curiosity?

[R B Garr]

11. Bill Clinton already did this decades ago.

He left office with a balanced budget that he was going to leave to Gore. Pretty “progressive” for that time, especially considering Gore was an actual climate change candidate. Gore campaigned on climate change when it wasn’t cool and trendy.

[Blue_true]

12. I guess the prosperity gospel that republicans seem to eat up is not working. nt