Go Figure

Since a large chunk of the country is just beginning to emerge from a post-tax day hangover, it might be instructive to examine a few figures. A recent CNN poll indicates that 74% of Americans believe that "a lot" of their tax dollars are wasted by the government, and another 23% believe that "some" of their tax dollars are misspent. Only 3% believe that "not much" of their tax dollars are wasted. Put another way, 97% think that the government wastes anywhere from "some" to "a lot" of the money it collects in taxes. That figure is a little higher than I would have guessed, but the conclusion that government is not very efficient when it comes to managing money isn't terribly surprising.

The poll goes on to reveal that about half the country thinks the tax system is unfair, while the other half say it's fair. That feeling of unfairness results in 40% of the people being angry about the amount of taxes they pay, 36% are satisfied, and 24% don't feel strongly one way or the other.

Where it gets interesting is when we recall the fact that 47% of Americans don't pay any income tax.

To recap: 53% of Americans pay 100% of the income tax, 50% think the tax system is unfair, and 40% are angry about it. I'm surprised that last number is only (!?!) 40%.

The poll also indicates that 50% of Republicans say they're angry, but that figure drops to 44% among Independents and 29% among Democrats. Gee, I wonder which group pays most of the taxes, and which group gets a free ride with other people's money?

"The poll indicates growing public frustration with taxes over the past couple of decades."

"This is a significantly higher level of anger than existed during the 1980s" ... "In 1985, only 27 percent were angry about the amount of taxes they had to pay, possibly a reflection of the tax cuts that Ronald Reagan instituted in his first year in office."

Repeat after me: "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore."