« BACK  |  PRINT

RS

MEMBER DIARY

Mr. President, It’s Not A Mandate on Taxes

By: alanjoelny (Diary)  |  November 19th, 2012 at 04:06 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

In an interview a week before Election Day, President Obama declared that if he won again, it would be a mandate for raising taxes on the highest income earners.

Reviewing Election Day exit poll data, however, tells a different story.

Looking at the voting patterns broken down by income earning amounts (based on 2011 total family income), there are only TWO categories out of six that Obama won more than 50% of the vote. Those are:

Under $30,000: Obama 63% Romney 35%
$30,000 – $49,999: Obama 57% Romney 42%

The other four out of the six categories had Romney with over 50% of the vote. Those are:

$50,000 – $99,999: Obama 46% Romney 52%
$100,000 – $199,999: Obama 44% Romney 54%
$200,000 – $249,999: Obama 47% Romney 52%
$250,000 or more: Obama 42% Romney 55%

The electorate that voted from Obama – voters whose households earned under $50,000 – are also the same citizens who pay the least amount of taxes. The voters who already pay the most in taxes voted for Romney.

The only “mandate to raise taxes”, therefore, comes from the population of taxpayers who prefer others to pay more in tax so they can continue to pay less.

(crossposted at alanjoelny.com)

COMMENTS

POSTING RULES  |  LOGIN TO COMMENT  |  REGISTER TODAY
  • checkmate2012

    Great stats alanjoelny! This data should be shouted by Republicans loudly and often!

  • ewnbok

    A couple of observations concerning your analysis. First, not once do you mention that you are talking about federal income tax and not taxes in general. People making $50,000 and under still pay state and local taxes. On average, this amounts to 11% of their income. Romney seems to pay about 13% on federal income tax. Second, the under $50000 crowd pay far more in payroll taxes then do the upper brackets. Third, no one, not even you, pays federal income tax on first dollars earned. This means that if you are making $25000 a year or so, you wouldn’t pay any federal income tax after the standard deductions and exemptions that EVERYONE takes. Finally, you say:

    “The electorate that voted from Obama – voters whose households earned under $50,000 – are also the same citizens who pay the least amount of taxes.”

    It’s a well known and easily verifiable fact that the states with the highest percentage of taxpayers who pay no federal income tax are solidly “red” states such as South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas, etc. Do you really think these people overwhelmingly voted for Obama?

    If you continue to frame the issue that those not making good money are all moochers, you aren’t doing the conservative cause any favors. I know plenty of hard working, upstanding people who work hard even though they pay no federal income tax since their pay is so low. Many of these people work not one, but two jobs! Worse for them still, these jobs are menial back-breaking labor type of jobs leading to a life that would be considered bereft of satisfaction by those who make good money and have time for leisure and can give their kids all the opportunity in the world. But all of them DO pay taxes of some kind. And, believe me 11% of $30000 hurts way more than 13 % of $24 million.