Riding high on their midterm election gains, Republicans have argued for extending all of the Bush tax cuts due to expire at the end of the year, as opposed to a Democratic proposal to extend them only for Americans’ first $250,000 of income.
Despite House Republican leader John Boehner’s assertion that Republicans would “stop all the tax hikes” a CBS News poll released Thursday found that a majority of Americans would rather see tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans expire while extending them for everyone else.
Respondents were asked:
Which comes closest to your view about the tax cuts passed in 2001? 1. The tax cuts should be continued for everyone, 2. The tax cuts should only continue for households earning less than $250,000 a year, or 3. The tax cuts should expire for everyone.
Fifty-three percent of respondents said Congress should extend the tax cuts only for Americans earning less than $250,000 a year, while just 26% said tax cuts should be extended for everyone. Fourteen percent of respondents said Congress should allow all the tax cuts to expire.
The results come on the heels of two other polls that found a plurality of voters favored allowing the tax cuts on the wealthiest Americans to expire, while maintaining them for everyone else. A USA Today/Gallup poll released Wednesday found that 40% favored extending the tax cuts for everybody, while 44% favored extending only the rates up to $250,000. An AP-CNBC poll released last week showed a larger gap, with 34% supporting an extension of all the tax cuts and 50% supporting extension with the income cap.
The CBS News poll sampled 808 adults nationwide between November 29 and December 1, and has a margin of error of 4.3 percentage points.
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