Polls Show Majority of Americans Want to Tax the Rich

Since the 1940’s, there has been an insidious trend in the beliefs of the American public. Ever so slowly, the electorate has leaned towards the belief that the wealthy should be taxed significantly more than everyone else. In recent years this belief has culminated, and has finally inspired the majority of Americans. According to Gallup, a clear majority of people would like to see the government “redistribute wealth” with heavy taxes on the rich.

While polls show that Americans who want income to be distributed equally has stayed around 60% for several decades, they don’t specify how that income should be spread. Most don’t doubt that America has a severe income distribution problem. But when asked if it’s the government’s responsibility to solve this problem with taxes, there is a clear trend in favor of it. The poll you see above was first asked by Fortune Magazine at the end of the Great Depression, and was picked up again by Gallup in 1998. In less than 20 years, America’s opinion of taxes has started to flip.

Unsurprisingly, those who earn more than $75,000 per year were much less likely to agree to wealth distribution than those who make $30,000 per year. Those who were younger were more likely to support these taxes while the baby boomer generation was more skeptical. Which begs the question, if the younger generation is increasingly in favor of levying heavy taxes on the rich and upper middle class, is America poised to embrace a socialist future?