Most Americans say tax rich to balance budget: poll

Related News

• Ending US tax breaks for wealthy a 2012 goal-Biden
  Sun, Dec 19 2010
• WRAPUP 3-U.S. Congress passes Obama tax deal
  Fri, Dec 17 2010
• WRAPUP 2-US House gives final passage to Obama tax deal
  Fri, Dec 17 2010
• UPDATE 5-US House heads toward anticipated tax bill passage
  Thu, Dec 16 2010
• WRAPUP 5-U.S. tax cuts head for Senate approval
  Tue, Dec 14 2010

Analysis & Opinion

• 5 retirement security threats to watch in 2011
• Obama hits 2011 with a needed running start

A man holds his envelopes as he waits in line to mail his family's income tax returns at a mobile post office near the Internal Revenue Service building in downtown Washington, April 15, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst

NEW YORK | Mon Jan 3, 2011 11:15am EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Most Americans think the United States should raise taxes for the rich to balance the budget, according to a 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair poll released on Monday.
President Barack Obama last month signed into law a two-year extension of Bush-era tax cuts for millions of Americans, including the wealthiest, in a compromise with Republicans.
Republicans, who this week take control of the House of Representatives, want to extend all Bush-era tax cuts "permanently" for the middle class and wealthier Americans. They are also demanding spending cuts to curb the $1.3 trillion deficit.
Sixty-one percent of Americans polled would rather see taxes for the wealthy increased as a first step to tackling the deficit, the poll showed.
The next most popular way -- chosen by 20 percent -- was to cut defense spending.
Four percent would cut the Medicare government health insurance program for the elderly, and 3 percent would cut the Social Security retirement program, the poll showed.
Asked which part of the world they would fix first, the largest proportion of respondents -- 36 percent -- chose Washington, compared with 23 percent who picked the Middle East and 14 percent who chose Haiti.
The poll included a random sample of 1,067 adults across the United States from November 29 to December 2. The margin of error may be plus or minus 3 percentage points, 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair said.
(Reporting by Kristina Cooke; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Peter Cooney)