What Americans Think About Tax Reform

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By FAU, Special for USDR

Americans are split on U.S. President Donald Trump’s tax reform proposals and nearly 65 percent believe he should release his own tax returns before making significant changes to the tax code, according to a national survey by the Florida Atlantic University Business and Economics Polling Initiative (FAU BEPI).

After hearing about some of Trump’s tax proposals, 34 percent support his plan, while 41 percent oppose it and 25 percent are not sure. More than 40 percent disagree with the notion that lowering taxes for higher earning individuals and corporations can stimulate the economy.

“Americans are a little bit skeptical of trickle-down economics,” said Monica Escaleras, Ph.D., director of the BEPI. “They don’t believe cutting taxes to the wealthiest individuals and corporations will benefit households across all income levels.”

Roughly half of the respondents oppose a proposal on reducing the top marginal tax bracket from 39.3 to 33 percent, while 53 percent support doubling the standard deduction that people can claim on their income tax returns.

Americans are split on a proposal to repeal the 3.8 percent tax on investment income, which yielded $18.3 billion in 2015 to help fund the Affordable Care Act, with 34 percent supporting it, 37 percent opposing and 29 percent not sure. More than two-thirds of respondents support allowing mortgage interest to be deducted from an individual’s taxable income.

“Historically, Americans have had very different views on the best approaches and what makes the tax system equitable,” said Kevin Wagner, Ph.D., associate professor of political science at FAU and a research fellow of the Initiative. “President Trump has a long way to go in order to convince Americans to follow the White House proposal.”

Respondents also gave the president an approval rating of 38 percent. The national online survey of 812 Americans, 18 years of age and older, was administered through Survey Sampling International (SSI) on April 28-30 and has a margin of error or +/- 3.4 percent. Breakdown by political party was 41 percent Democrats, 26 percent Republicans, 25 percent Independents and 8 percent not registered.

SOURCE FAU Business and Economics Polling Initiative