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Poll: Americans Would Rather the Next President Get Some Jobs Up in This Piece Rather Than Stick the Rich with Higher Taxes

Posted on by Caleb Newquist

Surely most people wouldn't mind if the 1% were paying a little bit more in taxes but when compared to other issues, Gallup found that it's a pretty low priority:

Creating good jobs, reducing corruption in the federal government, and reducing the federal budget deficit score highest when Americans rate 12 issues as priorities for the next president to address. Americans assign much less importance to increasing taxes on wealthy Americans and dealing with environmental concerns. 

You might be thinking, "Oh, this is just a bunch of Romney fanboys that feel this way." Well…yes! But actually Obama supporters are not that keen on tax increases either when it comes to Presidential priorities:

Obama and Romney supporters differ most on healthcare, dealing with environmental concerns, increasing taxes on the wealthy, and education. All of these are much higher priorities for Obama supporters than for Romney supporters. The deficit is the only issue that has a large party difference with Romney supporters saying it is more important. Although there is a large difference in the relative importance of dealing with environmental concerns and increasing taxes on wealthy Americans, these issues are the lowest priorities for both Romney and Obama supporters.

Pretty interesting findings. Just don't expect Democrats to stop using higher taxes as a political football.

Americans Want Next President to Prioritize Jobs, Corruption [Gallup via TaxProf]

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This all makes it look like the cynics are right – it’s all about extending IRS power over preparers.

Don’t believe me? Listen to Shulman’s own words:

Today, I want to talk for a little bit about some of our priority programs, such as the Return Preparer Program, the evolution of our relationship with our largest corporate taxpayers, including Schedule UTP, and our work on what we’re calling a real time tax system.

The common thread that runs through them is points of leverage and working smarter.

Points of leverage sounds like what a wrestler uses to pin an opponent. The IRS can use these “points of leverage” to make preparers more subjects of the government and less advocates for their clients. And in their own sweet time, they will.