TPM: What America Wants From The Super Committee - By The Numbers (Tax the rich!)

[highplainsdem]

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/american-positions-for-the-super-committee-by-the-numbers.php

Since the establishment of the congressional super committee to come up with a way to reduce the deficit by over $1.5 trillion over ten years, most of the focus has been on who will be appointed and how those individual personalities will affect the debate, or whether the hearings will be public. But over the past few days news organizations have released new polling data on what policy prescriptions Americans would actually prefer, mostly from a menu of traditional options (cuts to major programs, well known new tax options), to bridge the budget gap.

CNN, Gallup, and Marist all polled some of these options, and here's a quick rundown of what might happen if you put the American people at the table.

New Targeted Taxes On The Wealthy And Corporations

President Obama and Congressional Democrats have been hammering away at the need for a balanced approach (read: new revenues in addition to cuts) to the debt problem, and simply put, they have a lot of support on their side. In the CNN poll, 63% of Americans supported "increases in taxes on businesses and higher-income Americans," vs. 36% opposed. 66% agreed with "raising taxes for upper-income Americans" in the Gallup survey, including 45% of Republicans and 37% of Tea Party supporters. The Marist poll showed support for two types of new revenues: increasing taxes on those making more than $250,000 got 68% approval, and eliminating subsidies for oil and gas companies got 60%.

Support For Cuts To Spending On Domestic Programs, Sans Entitlements

The Gallup poll showed that Americans support "cutting spending other than defense, social security, and medicare," at a 59% clip, including the support of 49% of Democrats. 57% support "cuts to major domestic programs" in the CNN poll, but of course, that wording might cause some respondents to think that includes Social Security and Medicare, since those are major domestic programs.

-snip-

Other poll findings:

Possible cuts to defense spending -- the polls showed Americans pretty evenly divided on this.

Cuts to entitlements are off the table -- a majority oppose cuts to entitlements, with the exception of 53% of Tea Party supporters polled by Gallup (though Gallup found only 42% of all the people they polled would support such cuts). And that Gallup poll seemed to be an outlier compared to the CNN and Marist polls, which showed that only 35% and 15%, respectively, supported cuts to entitlements.

[daa]

1. Well so far we have 9 cutters so I guess that wont happen nt

[highplainsdem]

2. kick

[jwirr]

3. This committee idea is stupid. Who thinks that a 50/50 committee

will ever come up with a consensus let alone a majority plan. Especially one that would favor the little guy.

[highplainsdem]

4. I agree.