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I know this is kind of a lib thing to complain about, but it really is insane how much electoral mileage the GOP gets out of the fact that its own voters don't understand marginal tax rates. (hexbear.net)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I see this become apparent on social media every so often and it's really just depressing how widespread the misunderstanding is.

51% of Americans who were polled in a 2021 survey agreed with the statement that "You pay your marginal tax rate on all of your income".

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[–] [email protected] 43 points 2 months ago

it's drilled in to us repeatedly as children and young adults, a fundamental misunderstanding of how it works. it doesn't help that tax payment is unnecessarily complicated to create an industry of tax preparers who lobby to keep the process unnecessarily complicated. so you end up with working people in their 40s who literally have no idea how any of it works, but just repeat anecdotes from others as though they are facts.

I sat in a college level basic law course where the in house counsel for a public agency just straight up lied about estate taxes, with complete conviction.

if you keep everybody ignorant and confused about policy you can advocate for reforms that don't fix anything.