Poll Shows Americans Favor Cutting Spending As Democrats Push For More Spending and Tax Hikes

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In response to a recent national survey by Scott Rasmussen on Democrats’ misnamed “Inflation Reduction Act,” Adam Brandon, FreedomWorks President, commented:

“A majority of Americans favor cutting taxes and spending. Naturally, Democrats want to do the opposite. They do not care about the average American’s economic burden– they only care about appeasing the left’s most radical constituencies.”

“Note also that two in three Americans support reducing the cost of gas over lowering carbon emissions. This is understandable, as nearly seven in ten say that the price of gas has forced them to significantly cut back spending on other items. Democrats’ so-called ‘Inflation Reduction Act’ does nothing to address the cost of gas.” 

“In fact, Democrats’ bill does nothing to address Americans’ priorities and instead makes life harder by authorizing a $125 billion IRS inquisition to increase small business tax audits by 50 percent. A majority of those polled oppose this, and a majority of those polled also believe that additional audits will target primarily middle class Americans.”

“The Democrats truly are the party of misery. Sen. Sinema (D-Ariz.) should have no problem voting against this bill.” 

Some key insights from the poll, conducted between July 30-31, 2022, are as follows. 

On the question of: Given the state of the economy today, would it be better to cut government spending and taxes or to increase government spending and taxes?

  • 55 percent of respondents support cutting government spending and taxes, while only 23 percent support increasing government spending and taxes. 

On the question of: At this point in time, is it more important to reduce carbon emissions or reduce the price of gas?

  • 66 percent of respondents say it is more important to reduce the price of gas, while only 26 percent say it is more important to reduce carbon emissions.

On the question of: Over the past few months, has the cost of gas caused you to significantly cut back spending on other items?

  • 68 percent of respondents said “Yes” and only 27 percent said “No”.

On the question of: The new legislation being considered would double the size of the IRS so that the agency can conduct audits on an additional 1.2 million taxpayers every year. The agency has set a goal of increasing the audits of small business owners by 50%. Do you favor or oppose this proposal?

  • 53 percent of respondents said they either somewhat or strongly oppose it, while only 31 percent somewhat or strongly support it

On the question of: If the IRS conducts an additional 1.2 million audits each year, will they primarily audit wealthy Americans or middle class Americans?

  • 56 percent of respondents say the IRS will audit middle class Americans, while only 24 percent say they will audit wealthy Americans. 

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