Gallup: Americans think corporations, wealthy people pay too little in taxes

NewsWorks Tonight host Dave Heller sits down for his weekly conversation with Gallup’s Frank Newport to talk about trends in U.S. opinion.

Americans’ overall approval of the US Supreme Court is up from last year, fueled mainly by a surge in approval among Republicans, even as Democrats became more negative.

Americans have become more likely to say the court is too conservative, rather than too liberal. That’s a big shift. Since 2009, Americans have consistently said the court is too liberal.

President Donald Trump announced the outline of a new tax reform plan this week, but, tax reform is not a high priority among Americans. The data show that Americans are ok with reducing the number of tax brackets, and ok with the idea over overhauling the tax system. But it’s not a pressing issue.

However, the public thinks that corporations and upper-income people are paying too little in taxes — meaning they will not be overly supportive of a tax reform law that reduces the taxes paid by these two groups.

As for the average American, 51 percent say the middle class pays too much in taxes, but that’s actually down from much higher numbers in past decades, particularly before the Bush tax cuts.