As a somewhat separete note, and not meaning to demean anyones political views, I think a situation which is something like this distorts peoples views of taxation politics, regardless of where they live. (This is also for the US and 2007.)
The point is basicly that people tend to grossly underestimate how rich the rich actually are in proportion to the rest of us. This means they grossly underestimate the effect extra taxes on the rich could actually have on government finances.