Poll: Income Inequality Too High, Rich Aren’t Paying Fair Share of Taxes

08/28/2012; Tula Connell

 The U.S. public sees a danger in the nation’s growing income inequality and says the rich don’t pay their fair share of taxes (click on chart to enlarge), according to a new Pew Research Center survey released yesterday.

Nearly six in 10, or 58 percent, say the rich don’t pay enough in taxes, while 26 percent believe the rich pay their fair share and 8 percent say they pay too much.

Further, roughly two-thirds of Americans (65 percent) say the income gap between the rich and poor has gotten larger in the past decade. And 57 percent also say this is a bad thing for society (3 percent say this is a good thing).

Sixty-three percent of those polled also say Republicans favor the rich over the middle class and poor, and 71 percent say Mitt Romney’s election would be good for wealthy people. In contrast, 60 percent say if President Obama is re-elected his policies will benefit the poor, while half say they’ll help the middle class and 37 percent say they’ll boost the wealthy.

And the majority is correct: Romney plans to force the middle class to pay more taxes so billionaires like him can get bigger tax breaks.

As the survey also notes, the rich really are different from you and me—they’re far less stressed than the rest of us. The survey found:

only 29 percent of those in the upper income level say they frequently experience stress, compared with 37 percent of those in the middle and 58 percent of lower-income adults.

That means those gathered at the Republican National Convention should be a pretty relaxed bunch.