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Comment by dragonwriter | Hacker News Reader

> Or that -- when asked explicitly whether the rich should pay more -- most (3/4) people, like you, say "yes", but when asked what the tax rate should be for top earners, precisely 3/4 of respondents said it should be 30% or below(2). Again, it's 43% right now.

That's comparing a question people likely answered with a total effective income tax rate with the current nominal marginal income tax rate.

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Not sure what evidence you're basing that off of. An alternative explanation would be people calling for taxes on the rich to be "raised" aren't really sure what they currently are.

It's literally what the question asks. It asks what rate high earners should pay: “should pay” is effective not nominal, because it asks what should be actually paid; “high-earners”, without limitation to some subset of their income, is total, not marginal.

Of course, this is reinforced by the fact that people don't even generally understand marginal tax rates all that well, but that's secondary.

No, the question asking about specific rates is talking about what the top marginal income tax rate should be (I can't see the actual question, but it's clear that's what thehill.com, who commissioned the poll, is referring to when discussing it).

You could argue that when people say the rich should pay "more", they're talking about effective rates, but a lower marginal income tax rate would be a funny way to raise top earners' effective tax rates.

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