President Bankrupt Blank Check Obama must have been smiling this morning when he found out that the country is split over how they feel about the federal taxes they pay.

A new Gallup Poll finds 48% of Americans saying the amount of federal income taxes they pay is "about right," with 46% saying "too high" -- one of the most positive assessments Gallup has measured since 1956. Typically, a majority of Americans say their taxes are too high, and relatively few say their taxes are too low. Is this another example of the proverbial dumbing down of America or simply the reality that about 50% of Americans do not pay income taxes so why should they care?

The most interesting number in the survey is that 39% of people making less than $30,000 per year think their taxes are "too high", while the other 51% think they are "about right". This income group pays little or no income taxes so I am surprised 100% of them did not say they were "about right".

Over 50% of the $75,000 and over income group, which pays most of the income taxes in the U.S., feel income taxes are too high. Republicans, who clearly understood the survey,dislike the tax rates more than their less educated Democrat counterparts. 

One can twist these number to fit any kind of tax position you want to defend: higher or lower taxes. I suspect that if the questions were phrased differently, the results would also differ. For example, "Do you think you are getting screwed by Uncle Sam when you pay taxes?" might bring a different answer from people about tax fairness.

Obama, I am sure, will be waving the poll around in one of his 100 press conferences this week to let everyone know how much people love having their money taken away. One thing he won't mention is that the taxes people pay by April 15, 2009 is for income earned in 2008, when GEORGE "THE EVIL" BUSH was President and his tax cuts were still in place. (Kudos to my opposite sex spouse of 38 years, Linda Dandy, for pointing this fact out to me.)

This poll was from a rather small sample of 1,027 people. Nobody from Gallup called me. I am sure if the Gallupers had visited  any of the Tea Party protesters on April 15, they would have found 100% of the people at these rallies saying their taxes were too high.

I would like to see Gallup rephrase the question to ask if taxpayers feel all the taxes they pay collectively on the city, county, state, and federal level are "fair". I would expect the results to be much worse.

The free spending Beltway Blowhards can all take a bow today for convincing half of America that they are getting screwed by Washington and don't even realize it. 

                                                                                                
                                                                                       YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK