New Survey on Americans’ Opinions of the Tax System

Just five days from the April 17th taxA tax is a mandatory payment or charge collected by local, state, and national governments from individuals or businesses to cover the costs of general government services, goods, and activities. deadline, we’ve released our third annual survey of U.S. opinions about taxes. You can read the full report here, or just browse the topline survey data here.

As you finish filling out your own tax returns, here are a couple of my favorite questions from the survey that explore the value we receive from government services in exchange for our annual tax burdens. Enjoy:

Q605. What is the maximum percentage of a person’s income that should go to taxes – that is, all taxes, state, federal, and local?

	2007	2008	2009
Unweighted Base	2,012	2,017	2,013
100%	*	–	–
90% – 99%	*	*	–
80% – 89%	*	*	–
70% – 79%	*	*	–
60% – 69%	*	*	–
50% – 59%	2%	1%	2%
40% – 49%	1%	1%	3%
30% – 39%	6%	6%	7%
20% – 29%	20%	22%	23%
10% – 19%	47%	43%	41%
1% – 9%	22%	24%	20%
0%	2%	1%	3%
MEAN	14.7	15	16
Source: Tax Foundation

Q610. Thinking about all the government services you use during a year – national defense, roads, public schools, food stamps, Social Security, police protection and so on – how much would you say these are worth to you in dollars for one year? That is, how much would you be willing to pay for all the services provided to you by governments for one year?

	Total
Unweighted Base	2,012
$0 – 1000	43%
$1001 – 10000	46%
$10001 – 50000	9%
$51000 – 99999	1%
$100000+	1%
MEAN	$7243.80
Source: Tax Foundation

Q615. Considering all government services on the one hand and taxes on the other, which of the following statements comes closest to your view?

	Total
Unweighted Base	2,012
Keep taxes and services about where they are	41%
Decrease services and lower taxes	32%
Increase services and raise taxes	8%
Not sure	20%
Source: Tax Foundation

Read the full 12-page summary of the survey here.

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