Forum Post: Americans Want Shared Sacrifice

As House and Senate leaders fine-tuned rival deficit reduction plans, Congress is on a path to do exactly what the American people don’t want. The American people have consistently stated, in poll after poll, that they want the wealthy and large corporations to pay their fair share of taxes and they want to protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. In a recent Washington Post poll, 72 percent said Americans earning more than $250,000 a year should pay more in taxes.. Just recently the group called the Patriotic Millionaires agreed they should be taxed more, including billionaires that back the Buffet Rule. Congress is on track to give them the exact opposite: major cuts in the most important programs that the middle class needs and wants, and no sacrifice from the wealthy and the powerful. Cutting too much of the people social safety net at this time would be devastating to the economy and to the people.