Taxes: The good, the bad, and the ugly

Happy Tax Day!

As they say, there are two things that are certain in life, death and taxes, but when has inevitability stopped anyone from having big feelings? We wanted to see just how big those feelings are, so we asked Americans what they really think about taxes.

We found that the idea (which is en vogue among certain Senators) that Americans see their taxes as some great burden doesn’t necessarily bear out in the data. In fact, a majority of Americans don’t think that paying less in taxes would make them feel better. They just want to know where the money is going and that corporations and wealthy Americans are paying into the system at a fair rate.

Voters agree that lower and middle income Americans are paying too much in taxes while upper-income Americans and corporations are paying too little. These opinions are stable across all the demographic groups we tested, including across partisan divides.

A majority (57%) of voters think the amount they have to pay in income tax is too high, compared to just under a third (30%) who say that it is about right. Unsurprisingly, a negligible number of people say that their federal income tax rate is too low. Importantly, these opinions are stable across partisan lines. Middle-aged voters, aged 50-64, are more likely (69%) than their younger (45%) or older (57%) counterparts to say that their tax burden is too high.

When we dig deeper into why voters feel this way about their taxes, they overwhelmingly disagree with statements like “I know where my taxes go” and “I trust the government to make good spending decisions with my tax dollars.” But even as they say that “paying taxes feels like a punishment,” two-thirds (66%) of voters say that “paying taxes is part of being a good citizen.”

So the answer to everyone’s tax woes is to just slash taxes and either cut government programs or raise taxes specifically on the rich, right? Wrong.

When asked about what would make voters feel better about paying their taxes, paying less is far from the top choice. We gave voters a list of possible solutions to make them feel better about paying taxes, as well as an option to include their own answer, and asked them to select all of the options that applied. Even though they were not restricted to just one answer, just four-in-ten (41%) said paying less would make them feel better. Importantly, the only demographic group where paying less in taxes ekes out majority support is among middle-aged voters.

So what do voters want?

Voters want fairness and transparency when it comes to taxes and government spending. Majorities of voters say that “knowing everyone was paying their fair share” (58%) and “having a better sense of where my money went” (57%) would make them feel better about their taxes. These two solutions amass majority support across partisan lines, with Independents agreeing most strongly. These were also the top two most selected answers across age divides, gaining more support than cutting taxes even among middle aged voters.

Congress shouldn’t make the mistake of thinking that Americans believe they shouldn’t pay taxes at all. There’s an opportunity for liberal lawmakers to make the case for a contributory society. They just have to make sure that the public knows where their taxes are going (are they paying for health care for elderly Americans or an unpopular war in Iran?) and that if they are giving the government their hard earned dollars, others are doing the same too.