Voters have always had a sour attitude when it comes to paying federal income taxes, but now a new poll finds even more Americans don’t like paying more in local property taxes.
The survey, conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, shows when it came to paying property taxes, most Americans (70%) listed that as the number one tax they felt that paid too much. Slightly fewer, 66%, said they pay too much on federal income taxes, and 60% held the same view concerning local sales taxes.
Another poll, conducted by the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy showed similar results.
- 69% said property taxes were too high.
- 67% said federal income tax is too high.
- 62% said state sales tax is too high.
Democrats that were polled believe the taxes were fair where Republican voters believed taxes were too high.
Adults surveyed said they didn’t feel the government was giving them a positive rate of return on how their tax dollars were being spent.
(66%) said they barely had any trust in how their taxes were being spent by the federal government. (58%) showed a lack of confidence on how state governments spend their money.
On the local level, just 49 percent said they trust their local government on how to spend tax dollars wisely, but 53 percent felt positive on how local school district spent their dollars.
Pollsters found that of those who pay federal income taxes, 50 percent said if it would lower their taxes, they would choose to have fewer government services.
Bottom line, most voters polled said the federal income tax and local property taxes were unfair and around 50 percent said the same about state income tax, sales tax, and the federal Social Security tax.
These two polls were also consistent in showing most voters not having much faith in their government. But the pollsters did point out that when it came to federal vs local government, a majority of voters said they trusted their local government more than the federal government.
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