70% overtaxed, but 47% pay no taxes?

I noticed two interesting statistics over the past few weeks and contemplated them for a while before I noticed something odd.

First, we saw a poll that revealed that 70% of Americans feel they are over-taxed.

At about the same time, we saw reports that 47% of Americans will pay no income tax at all.

I heard analysts speaking about both of these polls and statistics and I never heard anyone connect the two. What I did hear was President Obama mock the "anti-tax" protesters, since according to him he has "cut taxes", and should be thanked. In reality, the president imposed new policies that are going to hike the cost of living, impose new taxes, and even force Americans to purchase a product from a Government-approved list of companies (refusal to participate making the citizen subject to fines or imprisonment) and yet he then claims he has "cut taxes". How can he even try to make that claim? Simply by not having reversed the Bush tax cuts, he claims to have cut taxes.

Just like the government's tricky use of statistics such as "jobs created or saved", a vacuous shell game to try to take credit for jobs that still exist by claiming they would have been lost except for the Obama policies, or new jobs that have allegedly been created (most of the real jobs that were created were government jobs, so their inclusion is misleading from the start), this latest bit of propaganda is completly illogical. It's like saying "I cut your taxes because I didn't impose a new tax." It is doubly misleading because in reality, there have been a whole new slew of taxes created, many of which were hidden in the so-called "Health Reform Act". These taxes include increases in capital gains (such as a 4% tax on home sales), the already mentioned requirement to purchase health insurance or pay a "fine", and others. Meanwhile, the same administration proposes a VAT tax on all sales, not to mention the Cape and Trade energy tax, both of which will immediately cause inflation in all products and services.

So the reality is that YES, government-caused tax hikes and fines are in the works, and Obama's plattitudes are empty, as usual.

Which brings me back to the original topic: If the statistic is correct that only 47% of Americans have to pay federal income tax, how is it possible that 70% of Americans feel over taxed?

Clearly, the 53% of Americans that do pay Federal Income Tax feel they are paying way too much. So what of the additional 17% that apparently do not pay Federal Income Tax but still feel they are over taxed?

It occured to me that these must be individuals who are not required to pay Federal Income Taxes, but are still taxed heavily at the State and local level, and feel they are still paying too much. Many of these are likely to be the same individuals who are thrilled to get Obama-Care, because someone else will be footing the bill, and yet they also feel the squeeze from excessive local taxes. Afterall, I've heard that the tax rate in utopian cities like New York exceed 60%! It is not difficult to imagine that a NY resident who earns too little to pay federal taxes may squirm under the excessive state and city taxation in NY city.

And this leads me to believe that there is at least a 17% voting block of citizens who might be swayed against the type of government expansion of costly programs if only the right message were created and directed at them. In fact, this might just be an indication of who the independents and Democrats are that have been joining the Tea Party movement.

(I encourage you to read this article that breaks down who it is that actually pays taxes in this country. The findings may surprise you.)