( CNN ) -- Nearly three-quarters of Americans say that the government wastes their tax dollars , according to a new national poll . A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Thursday also indicates that roughly half the public believes the tax system is unfair , and as a result , four in 10 say they 're angry about the amount of taxes that they pay . Seventy-four percent of people questioned say that a lot of their tax dollars are wasted by the government ; 23 percent say that some of their tax dollars are misspent and three percent say that not much of their tax dollars are wasted . Americans are split on their overall opinion of the country 's tax system : 49 percent say it 's fair and 50 percent say it 's unfair , according to the poll . `` Six in 10 Democrats say that the tax system is fair , '' said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland . `` Republicans are split down the middle , with 49 percent calling it fair and 51 percent thinking it is unfair . '' Four in 10 questioned say that they are angry about the amount of taxes they pay ; 36 percent say they 're satisfied and just under one in four say they do n't have particular feelings on the issue . Nearly half of Republicans questioned say they 're angry , but that figure drops to 44 percent among Independents and 29 percent among Democrats . The poll indicates growing public frustration with taxes over the past couple of decades . `` This is a significantly higher level of anger than existed during the 1980s , '' Holland added . `` In 1985 , only 27 percent were angry about the amount of taxes they had to pay , possibly a reflection of the tax cuts that Ronald Reagan instituted in his first year in office . '' However , it appears that Americans are n't taking their anger out on the Internal Revenue Service . `` Only a quarter of all Americans think that the Internal Revenue Service should be abolished , '' Holland said . Six in 10 say that the tax cuts passed in 2001 under George W. Bush that are set to expire this year should be made permanent , according to the survey . The poll was conducted April 9-11 , with 1,008 adult Americans questioned by telephone . The survey 's overall sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points . CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report .
A split on overall opinion of the country 's tax system , poll says . Four in ten Americans say they 're angry about amount of taxes they pay . Half of all Americans think Internal Revenue Service should be abolished , poll says .