Poll: Tax Rich To Finance National Health Care

Of all the proposals to finance universal healthcare in the United States, taxing the rich is at the top of the list for most Americans, according to a new poll.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Of all the proposals to finance universal healthcare in the United States, taxing the rich is at the top of the list for most Americans, according to a new poll.

At the bottom of the list was borrowing money from foreign countries (i.e. running up the national debt), the Associated Press poll showed.

The poll found that 57 percent of respondents favored taxing people earning over $250,000 a year in order to finance healthcare.

Yet the House bill passed last month calls for a 5.4 percent income tax surcharge on individuals who earn over $500,000 a year and households earning over $1 million.

Still, Majority Leader Harry Reid might include in the final bill an increase to the payroll tax to fund Medicare on income above $250,000 a year, the AP learned last week. The current Medicare tax is set at 1.45 percent of income, which is matched by employers.

The poll, based on landline and cell phone interviews with 1,502 adults from Oct. 29 to Nov. 8,was conducted by Stanford University with the nonpartisan Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.