by Mike ‘Mish’ Shedlock
Mish Talk
Here is an amusing Gallup Poll as reported by the Wall Street Journal: 57% of Americans Say Their Income Taxes Are Too High. Only 55.5% Pay Income Tax. What?
A recent Gallup poll pegged the percentage of Americans who think their own federal income tax bills are too high at 57%. That’s up from 51% last year and it’s the highest level since 2001, just before the Bush tax cuts became law.
Here’s the problem. Just 55.5% of American households will pay federal income taxes in 2016, according to the Tax Policy Center.
What is going on here?
One possibility is the survey itself. The Gallup poll has a 4 percentage-point margin of error and it’s asking people about income taxes at the very moment they’re angriest about them—the run-up to Monday’s tax-filing deadline.