Americans Are Paying Too Much In Taxes But Are Split On President Trump’s Tax Plan

It appears 2 out of 3 Americans think they are paying too much in taxes, but are split regarding President Trump’s new tax policies according to a new released by the Business and Economic Polling Initiative at Florida Atlantic University. In addition, sixty five percent (65%) thought President Trump should release his own income taxes before changing the tax code. The survey also found 38% approve of President’s Trumps job performance, 48% disapprove and 14% were undecided.

The survey found 67% of respondents said taxes were too high while 5% said they were too low, 28% said they were about right. But when it came the President’s actual proposals the results were less clear with 34% supporting the plan and 41% opposing, 25% were undecided.

Respondents were asked regarding their position on several proposals regarding President Trump’s tax plan. The most popular proposal is the mortgage interest deduction at 68% support and 12% oppose (+56), followed by the proposal to double the standard deduction that people can claim on their income tax returns at 53% support, 18% oppose (+35). The third most popular proposal is to abolish the estate tax with 47% support, 32% oppose (+15).

The least popular proposal is reducing the top tax bracket from 39.3% to 33% with 50% opposing to 28% supporting (-22), followed by the proposal that ends an individual’s ability to deduct the state and local taxes from their taxable federal income was opposed by 39% to 32% support (-7). The public is split 34% support, 37% oppose (-3) on a proposal to repeal the 3.8 percent tax on investment income. They are also split 37% support, 41% oppose (-4) on a proposal on reducing the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 15 percent.

People are split about the theory of “trickle-down economics”, where higher earning individuals and corporations can stimulate the economy, leading to economic growth and greater wealth for everyone, 35% agreed this theory works while 40% disagreed, 25% were not sure.

The National online survey was administered through Survey Sampling International (SSI) a Worldwide Leader in Survey Sampling and Data Collections, across every mode, for 36 years. The sample consisted of 812 completed surveys collected between April 28-30, 2017 and a 95% credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 3.4 percentage points. Responses for the entire sample were weighted to recent Census and American Community Survey data using a sample balancing procedure to match the demographic makeup of the population by region, gender, age, education and race. The polling results and full cross-tabulations can be available on FAU’s Business and Economics Polling