The Washington Post reports:

A clear majority of Americans have an unfavorable view of the federal income tax system, according to new Washington Post-ABC News polling. But, in a somewhat remarkable finding, a majority of Democrats view the tax system in a positive light while Republicans and Independents carry the exact opposite view. …

What explains that massive disparity between Democrats and Republicans/Independents when it comes to the tax system?

Part of the answer may well be that Democrats are broadly supportive of the idea that government can and should collect taxes in order to provide services for the American public while Republicans and independents are more skeptical about giving money to the federal government to spend.

Another part may be that the tax question winds up being read by partisans as a broader test of their feelings about the federal government. Democrats, with President Obama in the White House, are more likely to feel favorably (or at least express a favorable opinion) about the government. Republicans are not.

And yet Democrats, Republicans and independents have the same attitude about their own taxes:

More than eight in ten Americans believe that you should do everything you can to pay the lowest tax rate possible according to new Washington Post-ABC News polling, a finding that suggests that people likely hold politicians to a standard of conduct they themselves don’t adhere to.

Eighty-five percent of Americans — and 86 percent of registered voters — say that they approve of people “doing everything within the law to lower their taxes.” Nearly six in ten say they “strongly” approve of doing all you can to pay as little as possible. Those numbers are remarkably consistent across party lines with 90 percent of self identified Republicans expressing that view as well as 83 percent of Democrats and 82 percent of independents. …

Remember Mitt Romney? The two-time presidential candidate, whose considerable wealth made the release of his tax returns a focal point of the 2012 campaign, insisted that he paid what was required but no more.

“I pay all the taxes that are legally required and not a dollar more,” Romney said at a debate in January 2012 just prior to releasing his 2010 and 2011 returns. “I don’t think you want someone as the candidate for president who pays more taxes than he owes.”

Eighty-five percent of the American public should have agreed with Romney. But, of course, they didn’t. Romney was cast as trying to game the system for the benefit of he and his wealthy friends. In a February 2012 Washington Post-ABC News poll, two in three Americans said Romney did not pay his fair share of taxes (the public was split over the question in the fall). And a majority of voters in the 2012 exit poll said that Romney’s policies would generally favor the rich and he lost that portion of the vote overwhelmingly.

It’s not just Romney who is held to a taxing double standard — not bad, eh? — by the public.  President Obama released his 2012 taxes last Friday afternoon (the timing was not an accident), returns that showed he paid an effective tax rate of 18.4 percent last year. The Drudge Report, a popular conservative-leaning aggregation site, quickly went with a banner expressing incredulity at the 18 percent rate. Conservatives on twitter were similarly disgruntled. …

Whatever the reason, the disconnect between the massive majority of the public who believe paying as a little as possible in taxes makes sense and the disdain with which they hold their politicians trying to do the same suggests that elected officials in future campaigns will continue to view the release of their tax returns as news to be buried not touted.

ABC radio reported this morning that the average federal tax refund was $2,800. That’s one way to put it. Another is that taxpayers on average give their government a $2,800 interest-free loan (about $54 per week) every year.