Gallup: Only 3% of Americans say their taxes are too low

This comes as no shock to anyone, but almost no Americans believe that the big problem facing our country is that they’re undertaxed.  Gallup’s latest poll on this subject may fall into the “water is wet” category of news, but this has more relevance than usual.  With Nancy Pelosi and other members of Congress and the current administration talking about a new federal sales tax, these numbers look very forbidding indeed.

Gallup frames it rather strangely, however:

For the second straight year, slightly less than half of Americans say the amount of federal income tax they have to pay is too high, while almost as many say the amount they pay in taxes is about right.

Americans’ views on taxes have fluctuated modestly since then, rising slightly to 53% “too high” in 2007, before dropping to 46% last year and 48% this year. Last year’s percentage tied a reading from 1961 — shortly after John F. Kennedy had been inaugurated as president — for the lowest in Gallup history.

Throughout Gallup’s history of asking this question, no more than 3% of Americans have ever said they pay “too little” in taxes.

There is not a great deal of differentiation in response to the tax question across major income groups.

That’s where one can find the real comedy in this poll.  The one income group with the highest level of “pay too little” is the one that doesn’t pay any at all.  Five percent of earners of below $20K per year believe their taxes are too low, which is not too remarkable because they fall below the level that requires them to pay a federal income tax.  Forty-four percent of them think they pay too much in federal income taxes, which is a neat trick.

What about Democrats as a group?  Fifty-three percent of them think they pay enough in federal income taxes, while 36% think they pay too much.  Only 6% believe they pay too little.  Even liberals seem to agree that the problems facing the nation don’t stem from a lack of taxation.  Majorities among Republicans (54%) and independents (52%) believe they pay too much.

The real takeaway is the absolutely microscopic support that exists for raising taxes, at least in ways that impact ourselves personally.  With the level of spending coming from Democrats and Barack Obama, taxes will have to go up sharply across all income levels in order to pay for all of these “free” programs Democrats have promised, and sooner rather than later.  The same impulse driving the Tea Parties can be seen in this polling — and when those tax hikes start coming, Democrats will start getting tossed out of office faster than anyone can say “Let me be perfectly clear.”