Gallup polls the Buffett Rule, and finds that America thinks it's a darned good idea.
PRINCETON, NJ -- Six in 10 Americans favor Congress passing the so-called "Buffett Rule," which would mandate a minimum 30% tax rate for Americans with a household income of $1 million per year or more. Majorities of both Democrats and independents favor the policy, while a majority of Republicans oppose it. [...]
Americans in general say that the distribution of money and wealth in this country is not fair, and thatmoney and wealth should be more evenly distributed. Plus, 59% of Americans last year agreed that households making $250,000 or more per year should pay higher taxes. The current results reinforce these findings and underscore the now well-documented conclusion that Americans in general support various proposals for increasing taxes on higher-income Americans.
Those results aren't as one-sided as those found by PPP in
polling done for Daily Kos/SEIU last fall, showing 73 percent support for the premise behind the Buffett Rule. At that time, the proposal hadn't been put in the middle of the presidential political debate, which heightens the controversy and makes the issue more partisan. By contrast, in our September
poll, 66 percent of Republicans supported the idea, whereas in Gallup's current poll, just 43 percent of Republicans do.
But 60 percent is nothing to sneeze at, and Democrats should be confident in continuing to hammer the tax fairness and income inequality from now until the cows come home in November. They start on Monday, with the first of what is likely to be many votes on the Buffett Rule in the Senate.