Only 12% Of Americans Think Obama Cut Their Taxes: POLL

[Blue State Bandit]

Source: HuffPost

Only 12 percent of the public say that the Obama administration has lowered their taxes since coming to office, despite the fact that the White House's stimulus package cut taxes for 95 percent of Americans, a new opinion survey found.

The rather remarkable number was part of a CBS/New York Times poll released on Friday and provides a somewhat dispiriting window into how the recession has altered political preceptions throughout the country. A tax cut of historic nature, passed by Congress last winter, has yielded few political benefits (and, some economists would argue, few economic ones as well).

In addition, the CBS/NYT poll found that 24 percent of respondents said that their taxes had actually increased under the Obama administration -- which is, again, not true. Fifty-three percent said their taxes stayed the same.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/12/only-12-of-americans-thin_n_460559.html

---

A few days ago, I posted a roundly ignored remedy to this misconception. I have reposted a bit of this here for anyone interested.

Here's a bit of extra credit for those who want to get more Democrats elected in November.

So we all remember the schooling that Obama gave the House GOP at their "retreat" last week, right? One of the key talking points that the GOP kept trying to push, was that Obama had raised taxes on Americans. So I got curious about what would happen if I had to file my 2009 tax returns using the 2008 1040. Guess what I found out.

After doing my first draft of my 2009 tax returns, I plied my '09 W-2's and 1099's to an '08 trial run, and my tax refund increased by 18.4% (from $1731 for 2008 to $2050 for 2009).

Anyone else interested in "testing the math", as Obama had put it, here's what you need.

Follow here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7662319

[Newsjock]

1. State and local tax increases eat it all up

So yes, many Americans are actually now paying a larger total tax bill than before.

[Blue State Bandit]

2. Then they can blame their...

state leaders for that. The federal return, if this "do-it-yourself" method is used, should point this out.

It's easy (sorta), and can be done by yourself on your own free time. This makes it a great tool for those who want to see the difference, or show someone else how there taxes would differ this year under last year's tax code.

[StClone]

18. There are car credits, and other credits too

To take down Fed taxes.

[Iowa]

24. Yes, I just finished doing my federal taxes...

There's a new form called Schedule M. It reduced my tax owed by $800 on a joint return. I had absolutely no idea this was coming. And while I don't mind getting an extra $800, I really don't need it. Truthfully, it's fucking nuts. They're reducing my taxes while simultaneously throwing massive amounts of money down a rat-hole on wars-about-nothing.

I'd much prefer a responsible President and Congress who said, "Look, things are a damned mess. We need to pull together and sacrifice, and those who HAVE more will be called upon to SACRIFICE more. We're going to raise taxes and do it progressively. In doing this, we are NOT going to harm our most vulnerable citizens, and we're going to protect Social Security and Medicare. We're going to stop throwing money away on our bloated defense system. And we're going to dig out of this mess, once and for all, so that our children and grandchildren can have a future."

If I had the sense that our leaders were actually going to behave morally, ethically, and responsibly, I'd prefer that (along with a higher tax bill) over some measly $800 tax credit that will accomplish nothing but dig the hole deeper. But no. That's too much to expect from our current lightweight crop of politicians. No honor. No vision. No driving principles. No conscience. They can cut my taxes by $800, and I despise them for it.

[Arkana]

43. Well, thanks to the corporate run media

and the screaming Republican minority, no one knows that.

[Gman]

16. Tax bills larger than they were a year ago

State and local taxes went up enough to offset the Obama tax cuts? Where did this happened in the last 12 months? I find that kinda hard to believe.

[activa8tr]

45. Yeah, so do I !! In Mass we had an increase in sales tax of 1.25% but

even if I spent $30,000 on non-food non-clothing items, Mass tax increase would equal less than $400.

And if I can afford $30,000 in in-state purchases of non-food non-clothing items, (like a car), I can sure afford $375 in local tax increases. (I still have a ten year old car, no new car this year, and don't intend to get one next year, I keep cars 15 years and save tens of thousands that way, walk and use a bike, less gas, etc etc)

My real estate tax went up by $100, (less than 2%) but I spent about $50 less this year on gasoline than the previous year, for about the same amount of miles driven. I also got a lower federal tax liability, saving me several hundred, and more legal deductions saving me another $100 or so.

[Blue State Bandit]

3. and I deserve an unrec for....

what?

[ZombieHorde]

38. Some recs and unrecs are done on accident; some are done just to watch us freak. nt

[lonestarnot]

4. The monies paid were an advance on this years return. We were just apparently

inconvenienced with additional paperwork. It appears to have been $250.00 payments to be used to stimulate and take back two or three times, but we can't be bothered with making the banks pay back what they haven't paid back yet.

[KoKo]

5. Our health insurance just jumped 12%. We are self-employed so we didn't

see the payroll tax cut. :shrug:

[pitohui]

7. health insurance is not a tax, do you blame obama for the rise in food prices too?

as another self employed person, yes, it sucks to be self employed and has since reagan mounted a concerted financial attack on us, raising social security taxes and taking away our ability to income average bad years with good ones

if you didn't speak up about it in 1986, then there's little point in speaking up now, as the current reagan model is completely entrenched and we have no hope of unthroning "saint reagan"

"we" are self employed, one of you should get a real job w. benefits so you can get health insurance, otherwise when you reach your forties you may not be able to get health care/insurance at any price -- i couldn't except thru my employed spouse

the wingnuts and the party of no are determined to make sure we never get universal health care, at some point it's time to admit that being self-employed is stupid and selfish *if* you can get a job w. benefits -- in my case, in many cases, getting a job is impossible, and maybe that's your case too but in that case all you can do is tell others never, ever to fall into the self employment trap if they can avoid it

you speak of "we" and surely one of "we" can get an actual job w. benefits???

small businesses in locations that are profitable have been taken over by chains, being self employed is picking up crumbs and doing w.out benefits, and it harms not just yourself but possibly others -- why hire someone for the job when a contractor will do the same work for NO benefits?

[Alias Dictus Tyrant]

30. +1 tax code sucks for self-employed and small business

To add insult to injury, our economy is moving in that direction so it is affecting more people.

[happyslug]

39. I hate to tell you, most people look at their take home pay NOT Gross pay

And they also do NOT look at any of the deduction, thus any DECREASE in the pay is blamed on "Taxes" and that means Federal Income Tax Withholding. Whether Federal Income Tax went down and other deductions went Up (local and state taxes, increase cost of Health Insurance, etc) went up is beyond most people's conception of the idea. People MAY blame a cut in their pay to child support (Or attachment of their wages for Student loan or other debts) IF SUCH DEDUCTION OCCURS AFTER A CHILD SUPPORT ORDER (Or other attachment) IS ENTERED, but most people look at the bottom line and if it went down most people blame it on Federal Taxes even if their Federal Taxes went down.

If Obama wanted credit he should have made it an actual extra rebate check, then people would have seen the actual money. As Obama did it, people did NOT see the Federal Tax Cut, all their saw was their net take home pay go down.

I hate to point this out, but Marketing anything, even an Idea is important and Obama did NOT market the Tax cut for his benefit. The GOP made every effort to make sure he could NOT take Credit and then Obama jumped on the same theme and lost the battle of Image and in this case Image is more important then reality.

[Abq_Sarah]

31. You were still eligible

For the "making work pay" tax credit. I reduced our estimated self employment taxes by $200 per quarter last year. Of course the huge tax increase on tobacco nearly nullified that, at least my portion. I suppose I should thank the administration for finally giving me the incentive to quit smoking.

[pitohui]

6. well we need to put a stop to allowing rightwing fascists to control the media

democracy can't work and we will never get change while we allow bullshit wingnut hysterics to control the media and pump bullshit into vulnerable people's minds

quayle was an idiot but he was right abt one thing -- half the people have an IQ less than 100

we have to put a stop to anyone/ any media that pumps moron/idiot brains full of garbage or else find a way to deny morons/idiots the vote -- if we want everyone to vote, we cannot allow the liars to continue to control the stupid masses


the reason the lie is halfway around the world while truth is still putting its boots on is because we're GIVING the lie this huge head start

[Doctor_J]

14. Any suggestions?

I mean ones that might actually work?

[Zorra]

37. Yeh, I totally agree, that's the bottom line. nt

[AlbertCat]

8. I thought we were at war!

Why would anyone expect much less get a tax cut? We should be raising taxes to pay for the war. Don't want tax hikes?.... end the wars and then THAT money can go into infrastructure, security and stuff here.

[Ed76638]

9. Thank you right-wing noise machine

:banghead:

[Grassy Knoll]

10. Uh ????? where did they get that.....DUH !

[louis c]

11. I find this number amazing, but I encounter it every day

Everyone that I speak to thinks Obama increased their taxes. I collect $15 a week more in my pay check because of his tax cut. So does everyone else that makes $40,000 a year. When I am occasionally underemployed for a work week, my benefits have been increased by $25 a week. So does everyone else who collects unemployment. The total of unemployment for me in 2009 was about $2,000 for the year, and that is untaxed for the first time since Reagan began taxing unemployment benefits in the 1980's. Everyone else is also exempt from the first $2,400 in 2009.

Yet, no one sees it. How stupid can this society get?

[Psephos]

12. "Refunded" by borrowing money that must be paid back with interest.

The debt is now equal to an entire year's worth of national output. Every last car, gumdrop, and doctor visit. Every last farm crop, department store sale, and restaurant meal. Every cent of every paycheck.

But there's still a little room left on the credit card, so ring it up and let's pretend the bill will never come due. Just like with personal credit cards.

Color me unimpressed.

[Doctor_J]

13. Hate radio and Cabal News will need realignment before recovery begins

I am hoping to partake before I go to the hereafter.

[KILL THE WISE ONE]

15. not really noticeable to me, SS tax when up more then income tax went down

[hay rick]

21. FICA rate remained the same.

If your SSI tax increased it's probably because your earnings increased. The only exception would be for people making over $102,000 per year- the limit on income exposed to SSI is indexed for inflation and increased from $102,000 to $106,800.

[KILL THE WISE ONE]

22. exactly

that is also why the amount of tax cut I got as a single was small
approximately 7% times 4800.

[uncle ray]

34. of course.

when you make over a hundred grand a year, a few hundred dollars is almost nothing. maybe the tax cut should have gone to someone who would appreciate it?

[Jimbo S]

17. I did the math real quick

Due to employment situations in 2009, I took 2008 income figures and plugged into the 2008 and 2009 equations.

2008 Federal Tax = $6,664
2009 Federal Tax would have been $6,586

A difference of $78. Anything to get excited about? No, but it was lower in 2009.

[Jefferson23]

19. We can see Obama's surrogates are working out well.

:sarcasm:

[AzNick]

20. My taxes went up...

Ok, maybe that's because I made more money in 2009 than in 2008.

[KILL THE WISE ONE]

23. that may have had something to do with it

now use your advanced math and reasoning to evaluate what if you made the same money:evilgrin:

[AzNick]

27. I was joking, dude.

Some people are fortunate enough to have rare thought after skills.

Skills that I acquired when I was jobless 15 years ago.

Advice to jobless people: while you're looking for a job, see if you qualify for a student loan and a Pell grant. Guess what? You should. Add skills to your résumé.

[KILL THE WISE ONE]

28. Well okay then, sometimes you just don't know

did you ever find a job hunting website you liked?
i think that was you looking for one a while back on the arizona thread.
or am i getting old and can't remember accuraly

[AzNick]

33. We use Monster and others

But I just wanted to see if anybody here had the skills.

Turns out there are not that many SQL people.

[Capitalocracy]

25. Here's why

It seems to be really easy to sort of force people to make this transition in their minds from "they're going to raise your taxes" to "they raised your taxes", without that bothersome middle step of somebody actually raising your taxes.

But how do they do it? Or do "true believers" make this step on their own naturally?

I wonder if we can find some progressives who think Obama already closed Gitmo just because he said he would

[KILL THE WISE ONE]

26. so since (american dialect) english is you second language please explain

income taxes were ACTUALLY cut for everyone making under (family) 200K or so but ... for those of us making less then that, but were single the amount of the cut was smaller.
BUT I AM NOT BITCHING it was defiantly not enough money to even consider getting married.
Other things deducted from our paychecks went up and made it difficult to notice any "extra" money in the weekly check.

so does you second sentence imply that we only think our taxes were cut ?


and .............WELCOME TO THE DU ........

[Capitalocracy]

40. thanks

no, I mean I haven't been following changes in tax rates or anything but I know they've gone down not up

I'm just amazed at the level of suspension of disbelief on the conservative side... to just assume taxes have been raised when that's not the case, and when the pundits haven't directly lied and said "your taxes have been raised", but rather "they're GOING TO raise your taxes". I just think it's an interesting question, how do people make that jump in their minds, from hearing someone say the Dems are going to raise taxes, to believing they already have when they haven't, and in huge numbers.

And thanks for the welcome

[No Elephants]

29. No progressives will think that.

I cannot speak for conservadems, though.

And, of course, many cons probably thought Obama raised taxes during the campaign, shortly before Not Joe the Not Plumber shared his faux concern about his taxes going up, once he made over $250,000 K a year.

:rofl:

BTW, whatever happened to taxes, legislation by Congress did it.

[Capitalocracy]

41. haha Obama raised taxes during the campaign

if bypassing congress to raise taxes even before being elected isn't an abuse of presidential power, I don't know what is

[underpants]

44. Welcome to DU

:hi:

The MSM is the main culprit here but you are correct

[deacon]

32. 2% of teabaggers know about the tax cut so why are the teabaggers? n/t

[KILL THE WISE ONE]

48. FAUX NEWS ..... just forgot to tell them

[Odin2005]

35. This shows perfectly how the MSM manufactures reality.

[Name removed]

36. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[24601]

42. You need to find the federal tax rate. That's because your refund

could be different just because withholdings changed - or for any number of issues. The change is comparable when all other factors are static. My refund went up because of a significant increase of medical costs.

Turbo Tax summarizes it on the cover page.

Our refund went up 36.69%
Deductible medical expenses also went up 105% from 2008 to 2009

But, because med expenses are a deduction verses a tax credit, in total dollars, we paid far more in increased medical expenses ($10,087) than the increase in our refund ($2576)

Our AGI went up 6.9% while our Taxable Income went down 2.3% from 2008 to 2009
Federal Tax Rate went from 11.02% to 8.95%

[tom_paine]

46. WOW! That's some GOOD disinformationalizing by our RW Lie Machine/Corporate M$M.

They just keep getting better and better at manufacturing false realities.

A "triumph" of advertsing, marketing, ruthless bullying and sheer WILL.

Kind of like the Nazis, as I am fond of pointing out.

Except the Nazis would be DROOLING at the effectiveness of this polling result, achieved without murdering anyone in any basements, and thus avoiding bad PR.

I am continually astonished at how it continues to snowball in power and effectiveness. Hitler's "German Industrialists" meet our Bush Family "American Corporatists", who have taken ol' Adolf's strategy and updated it for the 21st Century in a masterpiece of power and subtlety unparalleled.

Just wow...

:wow:

[Capitalocracy]

47. now now, you don't know who's dead in what basement

let's not jump to conclusions