Majority of Americans favor wealth tax on very rich:
Reuters/Ipsos poll
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[January 10, 2020]
By Howard Schneider and Chris Kahn
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The idea of
imposing a wealth tax on the richest Americans has elicited sharply
divergent views across a spectrum of politicians, with President Donald
Trump branding it socialist and progressive Democratic presidential
contenders Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders prominently
endorsing it.
But it may have broad public support, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll
that found nearly two-thirds of respondents agree that the very rich
should pay more.
Among the 4,441 respondents to the poll, 64% strongly or somewhat agreed
that "the very rich should contribute an extra share of their total
wealth each year to support public programs" - the essence of a wealth
tax. Results were similar across gender, race and household income.
While support among Democrats was stronger, at 77%, a majority of
Republicans, 53%, also agreed with the idea.
A wealth tax is levied on an individual's net worth, such as stocks,
bonds and real estate, as well as cash holdings, similar in concept to
property taxes. It is separate from an income tax, which applies to
wages, interest and dividends, among other sources.
Asked in the poll if "the very rich should be allowed to keep the money
they have, even if that means increasing inequality," 54% of respondents
disagreed.
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“Rich people have a right to blow their money on Lamborghinis and
world-wide cruises or whatever,” said Esin Zimmerman, 53, a lifelong
Republican from Madison, Minnesota, who wants higher taxes for the
wealthy. “But that money could be used in other ways that help people.”
Zimmerman said she would especially be in favor of a wealth tax that
would help pay for government programs for U.S. military veterans, or
help single parents with young children. “It could put the border wall
up,” she said.
The results may reflect how the economic changes of the past roughly 20
years, from globalization to the financial crisis, have shaped attitudes
about economic policy.
According to polling by Gallup, concerns about the rich paying too
little actually declined through the 1990s and early 2000s, a relative
boom period for the United States. But the concerns have been climbing
since the crisis years of 2007 to 2009, from 55% to more than 60% as of
2016
https://news.gallup.com/poll/
190775/americans-say-upper-income-pay-little-taxes.aspx.
The Reuters/Ipsos results suggested even stronger support for an annual
levy on total wealth, not just income. Warren and Sanders have touted
the idea as a way to help pay for major social programs like Medicare
for All and to reverse a stark rise in the share of wealth owned by the
very richest Americans, known as the "1 percent."
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The Charging Bull or
Wall Street Bull is pictured in the Manhattan borough of New York
City, New York, U.S., January 16, 2019. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File
Photo
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The poll also points to changing attitudes toward basic ideas such as “keeping
what you earn.”
That notion, central to a winner-take-all brand of capitalism, got mixed
reviews. While 56% of Republicans agreed the very rich should keep what they
have regardless of the impact on inequality, 35% of Republicans disagreed with
the statement, as did 71% of Democrats.
Republican survey respondents interviewed by Reuters said they did not see their
support for a wealth tax conflicting with their party ideals or their support
for Trump.
Kathy Herron, 56, a Republican who lives in Santa Rosa, California, said her
support for Trump - a self-proclaimed billionaire - stems from his hardline
policies on illegal immigration. In her view, the president would do well to
support higher taxes on rich Americans. “We’re taxed from one end to the other,
and it just seems the rich don’t pay their share," she said.
In recent years in particular, mainstream economic institutions like the
International Monetary Fund and the Federal Reserve have taken seriously the
possibility that high levels of wealth and income inequality may be not just
politically corrosive, but bad for economic growth.
At the most recent Fed policy meeting, staff members presented research on how
families' differing access to credit might make a recession worse — the sort of
exercise that shows how unequal starting points among households can influence
national outcomes.
Economic and market trends have likely reinforced doubts about who gets ahead,
and how fast. Since the start in 2009 of a now-decade-long recovery, the top 1
percent's share of national net worth has grown from 27.8% to 32.2%, driven by a
record-setting boom in the stock market, according to Fed data.
Trump has cited the rise in equity markets as a selling point in his campaign,
which is centered on taking credit for historically low unemployment, and a
tariff-heavy trade policy that he says will restore manufacturing jobs.
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But that has not changed the country's wealth picture. While the share of wealth
held by the bottom 50% of Americans has increased since the crisis, to 1.5%
percent, longterm the trend is down, with their share at less than half what it
was in 1989. The shares of wealth held by the middle and upper middle classes -
or all other Americans save for the richest 1 percent -- have all fallen since
the crisis.
(Reporting by Howard Schneider in Washington and Chris Kahn in New York; Editing
by Dan Burns and Leslie Adler)
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