Source: Americans Elect

Earlier this week, President Obama announced a proposal called “The Buffett Rule,” named after billionaire Warren Buffett, which raises taxes on households making more than $1 million. The proposal has rekindled debate on whether tax increases should be part of a plan to address the nation’s budget deficit. At first glance, there doesn’t seem to be much middle ground.

“Class warfare will simply divide this country more. It will attack job creators, divide people and it doesn’t grow the economy,” said Republican Congressman Paul Ryan, who believes the budget deficit should be addressed only with spending cuts, not tax hikes.

But Erica Payne, whose Agenda Project favors Obama’s proposal, said, “This issue is not complicated. It is not nuanced. If you care about your country, you pay taxes. If your country is in trouble, you pay more taxes.”

A Forbes article this week reports, “According to a compilation of 27 polls conducted between Nov. 26, 2010 and as recent as Sept. 16, 2011, U.S. voters unanimously prefer higher taxes over no tax hikes and strict spending cuts as a means to reduce the deficit.”

We’ve asked Americans Elect delegates about this issue, and found that 80 percent favor some combination of spending cuts and tax increases. In other words, while this issue is often presented as black-and-white, it seems AE delegates have shunned those extremes in favor of a more moderate view.

Wouldn’t it be nice if the political process acknowledged that Americans come in more colors than red and blue?