Seventy-six percent (76%) of voters believe taxes in America are currently too high. A Scott Rasmussen national survey found that 9% believe they are too low and 8% think they’re about right.
These totals include 39% who believe taxes are Much Too High and 3% who believe they are Much Too Low.
The belief that taxes are too high is strongly shared across all measured demographic groups. Seventy-seven percent (77%) of men hold that view as do 75% of women. So do 77% of rural residents, 76% of suburban residents, and 74% of urban residents. Among those who earn less than $100,000 a year, 77% believe taxes are too high. Among those with higher incomes, that figure is 74%.
Politically, 87% of Republicans believe taxes are too high. So do 71% of Independent voters and 69% of Democrats.
The highest level of belief that taxes are too low was found among voters who prefer policies like those of Senator Bernie Sanders. However, even among Sanders’ voters, 67% believe taxes are too high and just 18% believe they are too low.
Democrats in Congress say they are focused on higher taxes only for the rich, but voters are skeptical. After being reminded that President Biden has promised not to raise taxes on anyone earning less than $400,000 a year, 61% of voters believe it is likely that the Biden Administration will raise taxes on middle class Americans. Only 27% consider it unlikely.
Forty-one percent (41%) of voters believe the benefits of government are worth the costs and regulations. Thirty-three percent (33%) disagree and 26% are not sure.
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Note: Neither Scott Rasmussen, ScottRasmussen.com, nor RMG Research, Inc. have any affiliation with Rasmussen Reports. While Scott Rasmussen founded that firm, he left more than seven years ago and has had no involvement since that time.
Methodology
The survey of 1,200 Registered Voters was conducted by Scott Rasmussen using a mixed mode approach from September 10-11, 2021. Field work for the survey was conducted by RMG Research, Inc. Most respondents were contacted online or via text while 239 were contacted using automated phone polling techniques. Online respondents were selected from a list of Registered Voters and through a process of Random Digital Engagement. Certain quotas were applied, and the sample was lightly weighted by geography, gender, age, race, education, internet usage, and political party to reasonably reflect the nation’s population of Registered Voters. Other variables were reviewed to ensure that the final sample is representative of that population.
The margin of sampling error for the full sample is +/- 2.8 percentage points.
