Voting Trends and Economics

Tax payers vote Republican, Tax receivers vote Democratic

Published on July 22, 2004 By Draginol In Politics

Vote by Income	All	Gore	Bush	Buchanan	Nader
Under $15,000	7 %	57 %	37 %	1 %	4 %
$15-30,000	16 %	54 %	41 %	1 %	3 %
$30-50,000	24 %	49 %	48 %	0 %	2 %
$50-75,000	25 %	46 %	51 %	0 %	2 %
$75-100,000	13 %	45 %	52 %	0 %	2 %
Over $100,000	15 %	43 %	54 %	0 %	2 %

Funny thing about numbers and what they mean.

Take this exit poll from CNN from the 2000 election. Overall, the voters are about even.

Most people who make less than $30,000 a year do not pay any federal income tax. You may pay some at the time but you get a tax refund at the end of the year. As someone who supports progressive taxes, this doesn't really bother me -- though I do think everyone should have to pay a certain flat fee so that they feel the pinch of what supporting expensive and wasteful federal programs means.

If you take out those two groups, you have 23% of the voters (at least) who pay no or virtually no federal income taxes.

So if you break it out like that you end up with:

	% of pop	Gore	Bush
Not paying income tax	23%	55%	40%
Pay income federal taxes	77%	44%	48%

If one translates this to political party, you get an interesting picture. People who don't pay federal income taxes tend to vote for Democrats. People who do tend to vote for Republicans. And in fact, the more taxes you pay, the more likely you are to vote for Republicans.

There are lots of conclusions one can draw to put either side in a negative light. But it is an interesting fact how this works out.

Each side can charge the other side with "greed". The rich want to keep more of their money. The poor want more of someone else's money.

My view is that the rich have a responsibility to their country to pay a greater burden of the taxes. The rich didn't get rich magically. They got rich largely thanks to the country we all built together. However, at the same time, those who aren't paying into the system should quit bitching about how "the rich" aren't paying enough or that they're getting off easy.

Comments (Page 2)

Draginol

on Jul 23, 2004

I should say that there are certainly exceptions to any rule. But I stand by my statements as a general truism.

Secondly, my article only points out that those who pay little or no taxes overwhelmingly support Democrats. The question is, why?

Draginol

on Jul 23, 2004

I should say that there are certainly exceptions to any rule. But I stand by my statements as a general truism.

Secondly, my article only points out that those who pay little or no taxes overwhelmingly support Democrats. The question is, why?

Jay Walker

on Jul 23, 2004

Not paying federal tax: votes Gore - 55%, votes Bush 40%
I don't think a 55%/40% split is overwhelming - a solid majority, sure. Overwhelming ... no.

An interesting counter-point question to yours, is if the poor are purportedly so greedy, then why don't they vote 80-90% Democrat, instead of just 55%?

JW

Madine

on Jul 23, 2004

If income is a deciding trend for voting, why isn't it more pronounced?

One reason is that fiscal issues are not the only reasons to vote a certain way.

misterME

on Jul 23, 2004

Secondly, my article only points out that those who pay little or no taxes overwhelmingly support Democrats. The question is, why?

I don't think there is a deep reason. It boils down to the fact that rich people generally support Republicans. If the poor, as a group, witness the rich supporting a party, they will by default assume that the policies of the party favor the rich (and not them) and vote for their primary opponents.

I think it is fairly obvious why most wealthier people support Republicans: Republican tax breaks, while sometimes partially beneficial to the Lower- and Lower-Middle-Classes, usually contain hefty tax breaks for wealthy people, and for those who own medium-to-large businesses. Add to that the fact that the Republican Party spends a fairly large majority of its campaign monies catering to the wealthier Americans and larger corporations (which is smart; the rich and big business certainly have more donatable money than those struggling to pay the mortgage). And last, but not least (and not all; I'm trying to be succinct), Republican administrations generally turn a blind eye to the indiscretions of the filthy-rich. Everything from the Enron scandal to the Microsoft vs. DoJ case points towards a regime that would rather wash its hands (while sweeping its involvement under the rug) of these infractions than deal with them head-on and punish those responsible. If I'm a rich person, or someone who owns tons of stock in large corporations, I would certainly feel that the Republican Party has my better interests in mind, or at least that they'll do less harm to my interests than the more industry-punitive Democrats. That may not be true in all cases, but as a general rule it holds water.

So if I’m in that category that generally feels left out by the Republican Party, I would align with the most viable of its opponents: The Democrats. In that instance, the Democratic Party comes off as the lesser of all the evils. Further, the Democrats know this, and campaign heavily as a party “for the People”, which endears them to the “disenfranchised” much more so that the Republicans.

The one overwhelming exception to this rule and line of thinking would be celebrities. Most are decidedly Democratic, which begs the question, “Why?” My best guess would be that celebrities, as a general rule, expect to be allowed to be slightly more immoral than the average citizen. Since the Republican Party seems bent on legislating morality (something Prohibition should have taught them is a bad idea), most celebrities steer clear of them like the plague.

Madine

on Jul 24, 2004

One interesting thing, and I cannot find numbers for this at the moment but I know it's true, Republicans have more people who contribute to their campaigns, but a smaller average contribution.

What did Republicans do to help Enron? Aren't there around 10 Enron execs in jail? Also, didn't most of their crimes take place when Clinton was in charge?

Draginol

on Jul 24, 2004

misterme: Well you definitely give a good argument for the side of the Democrats.

I would counter with these:

Republicans may (wrongly) try to legislate morality but Democrats don't even bother to do that, instead, they try to get courts to issue orders on morality.

I highly doubt poor people vote for Democrats simply because rich people tend to vote for Republicans. I think people vote for the people that they feel will work in their interest.

Since poor people generally pay little or no taxes and Democrats are proposing new goodies for people regardless of whether they've paid for them (health care, various aid packages, more social services, etc.) it makes sense that more would vote for Democrats.

Similarly, Republicans tend to push for lower taxes which means that "the rich" get to keep more of the money they've earned.

Someone once said that they really don't like seeing wealthy people complain about the poor as free-loaders. I can understand that. On the other hand, I see a LOT more complaining that the "rich" are supposedly getting off easy which I get sick of hearing since I know it's not true as a generalization.

Draginol

on Jul 24, 2004

Most poor people are trying to take care of their family. You have a very prominent writer here that has said he is poor and wants no help. This is the way most poor people feel. They want to make their own way, so they work two jobs or whatever they have to do to make it on their own.

I've corrected you before on this misconception.

US census Bureau, 2000:

The poor, listed at those who make less than $15,569 per year: 23% work full time.

So spare us this "two job" bullshit Wisefawn. Most people who are "poor" are poor because they don't or can't work. BTW, 45% of them own a home.

Solitair

on Jul 26, 2004

people vote for the people that they feel will work in their interest.

This is sooooo funny! Considering the number of posts using terms like

lesser of two evils

when talking about the US elections, I find this highly amusing. If people really voted for what worked in their interest then the US would not be a two party system but would be full of parties looking out for the best interests of their voters. This doesn't happen though. So I would modify this statement to

people vote for the people they hate the least

Sad, but true. And not just in the US. Also totally true over here in the UK. But we actually have a third party which makes politics much more interesting. So if you hate 1 party you have 2 others to choose between.

Paul.

The Wardie

on Jul 26, 2004

A great breakdown of just who really pays taxes:

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/menu/top_50__of_wage_earners_pay_96_09__of_income_taxes.guest.html

Only the "rich" pay taxes...

cactoblasta

on Jul 26, 2004

Personally I'm inclined to distrust the Rush Limbaugh site about as much as I distrust the Mike Moore site. Do you have another source for your figures?

Also the 96% figure includes the top 50% of the population. This suggests a very serious rich/poor gap which must be worrying to the average citizen. Continuing to work off generalisations, if the poorest 50% don't earn enough to account for even 5% of the tax payments, they're unlikely to produce many college graduates and high-wage earners, which will only lead to increased stratification of the economy and society. This can't bode well for the future. It's strange that they think the Democrats are going to do a better job though.

Sean

on Jul 28, 2004

the raw data used in the rush link is located on the IRS website:

http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/pub/irs-soi/01in01ts.xls

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