Yesterday, USA Today released a poll showing that Americans blamed the federal government more than Wall Street for the current state of the economy. Buried in the poll’s write up was this nugget on how much respondents thought the richest 1% should be taxed:
But these results only add up to 67%. What did the other 33% of Americans tell Gallup, who conducted the poll for USA Today, that they believed? The USA Today has since provided The Examiner with the full question and results, which are reproduced above.
Tallying the percentages, 53% of Americans believe the top 1% of Americans should pay less than 30%, and the average fair rate suggested by Americans was 24%.
According to the most recent data available, the top 1% of Americans already pay an effective federal tax rate of 30%, six points higher than the average rate Americans said the top 1% should have to pay.
