Why should Obama have to tell people they got a tax cut? Shouldn't they already know?

[apples and oranges]

I was watching a Sunday news program where the talking heads said Obama gave a huge tax cut but didn't campaign enough to let people know they were getting a tax cut.

My question is: Shouldn't they already know? What type of people live here, that they don't realize they got more back this year than when Bush was in office? :shrug:

Then I saw this article:

Poll Reveals Most Americans Don't Know They Got a Tax Cut



Here's the poll question: "In general, do you think the Obama Administration has increased taxes for most Americans, decreased taxes for most Americans or have they kept taxes the same for most Americans?"

The answer:
• 24 percent of respondents said they INCREASED taxes.
• 53 percent said they kept taxes the same
• And 12 percent said taxes were decreased.

Of people who support the grassroots, "Tea Party" movement, only 2 percent think taxes have been decreased, 46 percent say taxes are the same, and a whopping 44 percent say they believe taxes have gone up.

Those answers must frustrate the president who has highlighted its tax cuts for the middle class in almost every speech.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-6201911-503544.html

:argh:

[Joanne98]

1. They don't know cause the American people are idiots!

[Bluzmann57]

2. Yep we're idiots

You and I. And our spouses, parents, siblings, and all of us.
My point is, do not make blanket statements like the one you made, "...the American people are idiots".

[Pisces]

7. He should have said the majority are idiots. I agree wholeheartedly.

[babylonsister]

3. Yep, the majority don't have a clue. nt

[Hannah Bell]

8. They have a clue whether their income taxes went up or down.

[smitty]

9. Including yourself?

[NC_Nurse]

4. They believe what they see on the tube. Tha TEa Party fools have been

bitching about taxes and big govt. all year, so it must be true that the Dems have raised taxes. Our crappy media and the gullibility of the public are both to blame.

[ellenfl]

25. exactly. that said,

i have no idea if i got a tax cut. i DID get a bigger refund last year but my take home pay went down for the first time on 11 years. so i don't find it so unusual that people might not realize that they got a tax cut.

dems need to better communicate this, and everything else good they've done.

ellen fl

[EC]

5. Because they don't do their own taxes

and figure it was their H & R bloc guy that got them more money...they don't know about the america works credit because they haven't looked at a tax form in their lives...


I know people that file E-Z forms and still have H & R bloc do them for them...many have their taxes done so they can get the fast loans on the returns that H & R bloc and others offer...

[Control-Z]

26. Crazy, ain't it?

Going to H&R Block to have short forms done. I worked for H&R Block when I was 17 and they gave me maybe an hour of training to learn how to do the short forms and the standard long. Honestly, I felt like a fraud charging people for what a HS student could do in a matter of minutes.

[old mark]

6. Several reasons for this:

1. Media is constantly talking about the deficit, the bailout, money owed - and implying it's Obama's fault "He owns it now..." they NEVER talk about anything positive Obama has done.

2. The GOP is constantly talking about how Democrats increase taxes - the Teabaggers actually think their taxes went up and aparantly nothing will change their mind. Hard core rightwingers KNOW taxes are low, and lie about it anyway just to fuck Obama up.

3. The Democrats HAVE NOT publicised or capitalized on their accomplishments, seeming to believe that people will just love them because they are Democrats, and all the while...1 and 2 above are going on, and people believe taxes are higher...because that is what they are being told constantly, and hey, no one on TV would LIE, would they?
Democrats tend to believe most people are good if given the choice-this is not necessarily true.

4. People are stupid and tend to believe what they hear repeated loud and often...the Democrats may have waited till the last possible moment to get the massage across. I hope they have not waited too long.

mark

[whathehell]

21. You are decidedly correct on 1 thru 3...The Dems need a humongous PR Lesson...They absolutely

suck at "messaging" and simply selling themselves, generally.

[hfojvt]

10. several reasons

First, because for most people it was not a "huge" tax cut, only $400 or $800

Second, they did not even notice that because TAX WITH-HOLDING was changed so it would be more of a stimulus. Therefore, they got a mere $15 extra in each bi-weekly paycheck AND

Third, therefore, their REFUND was about the same as last year and many people, even here on DU think that their refund has something to do with the amount of taxes they paid.

[Curmudgeoness]

12. ONLY $400 or $800? Who is it that makes so much that $400

per person is not great? Or that they got a MERE $15 extra a pay? I remember clearly the Bush tax cut---I got $.05 more in each week's pay. Now THAT was too insignificant to wet my pants over. And that got so much hype. This one, not much hype, but definitely much more money back to me.

[hfojvt]

14. lots of people actually

about 50% of households make over $50,000 a year. If you look at the seven years of the Bush tax cuts, a single person making $40,550 saved $1088.75 from the Bush tax cuts PLUS $500 per child. http://journals.democraticunderground.com/hfojvt/103 A married couple making about $80,000 would save $2677.5. Nothing compared to what the upper 1% got http://journals.democraticunderground.com/hfojvt/126, but still much more than $800.

Of course, that does not count the other millions of people who saved much more in taxes from other tax cuts like cash for clunkers or the first time homebuyers credit. Kinda hard to tell who got what.

[readmoreoften]

15. Scraps. Tax the rich at Eisenhower levels and then we'll talk.

[readmoreoften]

16. .

[Curmudgeoness]

22. But the additional $400 was on top of the Bush tax cuts, so

they saved X amount of money plus got additional "cut" on top of that. And if a household making over $50,000 finds $400 per person insignificant, they could send that to me. I would appreciate it. And I did.

Also, thanks for showing me just how bad off I am.

[eridani]

29. It's insignificant in terms of overall budgeting if you are not EITC eligible

EITC makes a huge difference in the lives of people for whom $400 really is a lot. But then again you don't pay much in income tax to begin with if you are eligible for that.

[eridani]

28. No, it isn't great. Anyone who would change their yearly budget on that basis really would be

--stupid. You arent' going to change your life in major ways because of a 0.5%-1.5% increase in your income. Your life dramatically changes if you go from unemployed to having a job, so the whole tax increase was a waste of money that could have been used on infrastructure, which Obama wisely emphasized today.

[Curmudgeoness]

30. You are right, it did not change many lives. But it was nice and

better than nothing. And from what I hear, consumers spending money will help the economy, so you would think that $400 bonus per taxpayer would mostly go back into the economy. Maybe it didn't. But it was a good idea just the same---more money from consumers would drive jobs in the economy if you believe that our ecomony is based 70% on spending.

[hedgehog]

11. All I know is that I triple checked my tax return because I couldn't

believe how much my taxes dropped!

[Codeine]

13. The average person doesn't know their ass from a hole in the ground.

Most days I sure don't.

[readmoreoften]

17. "The American people are stupid" OR the tax savings were so damn minor they didn't make a dent.

And we don't need tax breaks. We need to tax the rich and take back the wealth we produce so we're not nickled and dimed to death.

[walldude]

18. They know.. they just don't really care...

all this yelling and screaming isn't really about taxes, or mosques, or health care. It's nothing but a temper tantrum. They love to scream about their rights being taken away and paying more taxes, but the fact is when confronted, they are either forced to admit they are protesting against something that they think might happen sometime in the future, or they have to lie. They love to make stuff up to be angry about. Death Panels, Birth Certificates, ACORN... I'm sure there is a psychiatric term for them, something about the obsessive need to be right about everything and the willingness to lie to achieve those ends.

[w4rma]

19. Most people are idiots. Most people need to be told. (nt)

[tavalon]

20. I think you are mistaking the average person for the average DUer

Some people are stupider than stink and will believe Rush over their lying checkbooks.

[Doctor_J]

23. Hate Radio/Big Media

the biggest threat to America and Americans

[gulliver]

24. Everything has to be repeated over and over.

That should not be taken to mean that the people are, for example, stupid. They have limited attention to provide a topic, and they don't all provide that attention at the same time. In order to get almost everyone to hear things about five times, you need to repeat them perhaps one hundred times, barring unusual things like viral behavior.

I would expect/hope that Obama starts to teach the facts about the tax cuts to the American people repeatedly now that it will do more good. If he hammers the truth over and over until the election, I think it will get through.

[eridani]

27. They don't know because the cuts were too piddling to make any difference

--in anyone's lives.