62 Percent of Americans Say They Favor a Flat Tax
Emily Ekins|Apr. 15, 2014 9:05 am
The latest Reason-Rupe poll asked Americans if they would support or oppose changing the federal tax system to a flat tax, where everyone pays the same percentage of his or her income, finding that 62 percent favor the flat tax and 33 percent are opposed. When asked where they would set the flat tax, the aveage response was 15 percent.
This reflects another recent Reason-Rupe poll finding that 67 percent of Americans say it is “not the responsibility of the government to reduce the differences in income between people with high incomes and those with low incomes,” while 29 percent say it is.
Strong support for a flat tax extends across income groups (62 percent) among those making less than $30,000 a year and 73 percent among those making more than $110,000 a year. Similarly across education groups and age groups, 6 in 10 say they support the flat tax.
Support for a flat tax extends beyond partisanship, with 66 percent of Republicans, 68 percent of independents, and 52 percent of Democrats in support. Nevertheless, Democrats are more likely to oppose the flat tax (43 percent) compared to Republicans (29 percent) and independents (29 percent).
Americans who say the less government the better and that the free market can better solve problems than a strong government, favor a flat tax by a margin of nearly 50 points (roughly 72 to 25 percent). However, those who think government should be doing more and that we need a strong government to solve problems favor a flat tax by only 8 points (roughly 51 to 45 percent).
https://reason.com/poll/2014/04/15/62-percent-of-americans-say-they-favor-a
Ask these people what deductions they are willing to give up then i believe the numbers will change.
jjj, it is a pretty safe bet that the numbers change when you add in a new factor to consider. Which direction they would change is not as obvious as your hypothetical suggests. Some may like the idea more with no deductions or some deductions. Some may like the idea less.
I for one would say no deductions for anything other than charitable donations as those tend to reduce costs that might otherwise need to be covered by the government via higher taxes. As for the mortgage interest deduction, it should be phased out slowly (for example, over a 15 year period) so that it does not overly disrupt the housing market or hurt people who purchased homes with the mortgage deduction as part of their calculations as to what they could afford. Just my humble opinion.