The Lexington Herald-Leader
An old political maxim, that voters never notice a tax reduction and never forget a tax increase, is at least half borne out by a new poll.
Most Americans don't know they got a tax cut last year, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll.
Seventy-nine percent said the Obama administration had raised taxes or kept them the same.
Only 12 percent knew that most Americans are paying less in federal income taxes.
The tax cuts are a result of the stimulus package enacted early last year to pump more cash into the economy.
Ninety-eight percent of working families and individuals got a tax cut, saving them an average $1,158 on the tax returns that were due this week, according to Citizens for Tax Justice, a research group that advocates for fair taxes for middle- and low-income families and for reducing the federal debt.
In Kentucky, the lowest 20 percent of earners (average income $9,110) got an average tax cut of $502, mainly because of new or expanded tax credits.
The top 1 percent in Kentucky (average income $769,270) got an average tax cut of $3,644 mainly because of relief from the alternative minimum tax.
It's probably a safe bet that most Americans also don't know that federal taxes are lower now than they have been in most of our lifetimes.
This year's tax-deadline day inspired Tea Party rallies, named for the famous colonial tax rebellion, including gatherings in Lexington and Louisville at which Republican Senate candidate Rand Paul was the star.
William G. Gale, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute and co-director of Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, said "it is ironic if not bizarre that the Tea Party got going during a time when federal taxes were at their lowest in about 60 years."
In the Times/CBS poll, 62 percent of those who identified themselves as Tea Party supporters also said they think that Social Security and Medicare are worth the cost to taxpayers.
Social Security, Medicare and national defense are by far the biggest items in the federal budget. If we're going to keep paying for them and balance the budget, tax increases are inevitable.
For all the conservatives out there who can't bear the thought of anyone paying more to the federal government, perhaps another widely forgotten fact will provide some solace: President Ronald Reagan raised taxes several times in the early 1980s to tame a spiraling deficit. He still became the patron saint of free marketeers everywhere.
Read more: http://www.kentucky.com/2010/04/16/1226417/rebelling-against-lower-taxes.html#ixzz0qw2HbYl8