--- title: President Obama Taxes Wealthy: Poll Shows Support For Some Increase description: More than two-thirds of Americans think the wealthy pay too little in federal taxes, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll canonical: https://time.com/3717898/poll-tax-increase-rich/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-22T22:43:46.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T04:36:42.764Z article:section: Politics og:title: Most Americans Say the Rich Aren't Taxed Enough og:description: And many claim the middle class pays too much og:url: https://time.com/3717898/poll-tax-increase-rich/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt31beb0fcdcf45799/6987806f2dce0133799ddaed/taxes.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: taxes og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Most Americans Say the Rich Aren't Taxed Enough twitter:description: And many claim the middle class pays too much twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt31beb0fcdcf45799/6987806f2dce0133799ddaed/taxes.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Most Americans Say the Rich Aren't Taxed Enough  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Feb 22, 2015 10:43 PM UTC  Fees take a bite Fees take a biteGetty Images  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Feb 22, 2015 10:43 PM UTC Tax season is here and more than two-thirds of Americans think the wealthy pay too little in federal dues, according to a new [poll](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/a4c12478a5bb480e9b6d773c08e96271/ap-gfk-poll-most-back-obama-plan-raise-investment-taxes). What’s more, six in 10 say the middle class pays too much. The Associated Press-GfK poll, which comes in the wake of President Barack Obama’s proposals in his 2016 budget to raise investment taxes on high-income American families, found overall that 56% of respondents think their own federal taxes are too steep. It also found widespread support for specific tax-raising measures: A bid to raise capital gains taxes on households with incomes greater than $500,000 saw support at 56%, while only 16% opposed it. And a new tax on banks was supported by 47%, while only 13% opposed it. The estate tax did not fare as well. Thirty-six percent opposed what would require estates to pay taxes on inherited assets, while 27% approved. Despite the poll’s apparent show of support for the President’s proposals, none are expected to win the support of the Republican-controlled Congress. \[[_AP_](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/a4c12478a5bb480e9b6d773c08e96271/ap-gfk-poll-most-back-obama-plan-raise-investment-taxes)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3717898/poll-tax-increase-rich/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3717898/poll-tax-increase-rich/"},"headline":"Most Americans Say the Rich Aren't Taxed Enough","datePublished":"2015-02-22T22:43:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T04:36:42.764Z","description":"And many claim the middle class pays too much","url":"https://time.com/3717898/poll-tax-increase-rich/","keywords":["Taxes","Congress","politics","White House","President Obama"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt31beb0fcdcf45799/6987806f2dce0133799ddaed/taxes.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt31beb0fcdcf45799/6987806f2dce0133799ddaed/taxes.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"taxes","caption":"taxes","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/taxes/","name":"Taxes"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3717898/poll-tax-increase-rich/","name":"Most Americans Say the Rich Aren't Taxed Enough"}}]}] ```