political environment and public view of taxation

it seems interesting that as the political environment changes, so does the public's view of taxation policy.  around 1999, about 66-68% of people polled believed that their taxes were too high.  after president bush passed his income tax cuts in 2001 and 2003, the public changed their view about taxation. 

in 2002, the % of people who believed their taxes were too high was almost the same as the % of people who believed their taxes were just about right.  the public opinion spread on this issue hasn't been that low since the early 1960s, when the political environment turned sharply liberal. 

continuing the 2000s decade, the spread grows slightly, but not near as wide as the period between the mid-1960s and the 1980s.  not only policy, but political environment seems to affect the public's view on government's role in taxation, income taxation at least.

today, because of the media's branding of president obama as an uber-liberal, about 63% of people polled believe that their taxes will increase in the next year.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/1714/Taxes.aspx
http://www.gallup.com/poll/127352/Six-10-Americans-Expect-Taxes-Increase.aspx

so, you can see that political shifts, and not necessarily policy, play a major role in the public's view of taxes

first blog

Hi.  My name is Seth Robertson.  For this semester, I will be focusing on the issue of taxation and the public's opinions regarding progressive taxation versus regressive taxation.  Both options have their pros and cons which we will further detail in the future.  My goal this semester is to effectively measure the public's preferences on the topic through exit polling on election day (nov 2).