The 55% who say their taxes are fair is lowest since 2001
PRINCETON, NJ -- This Tax Day, 55% of Americans regard the income taxes they have to pay as fair, the lowest percentage Gallup has measured since 2001.
Gallup's history of asking this question stretches back to the 1940s. From 1943 through 1945, during World War II, few Americans complained about their taxes, with an average of 87% of Americans saying their taxes were fair. That dropped down to an average of 61% in 1946, the first year after the war.
Gallup resurrected the question in the late 1990s, when an average 48% said their income taxes were fair, including the historical low of 45% in 1999. Americans' views of their taxes as fair improved from 51% in 2001 to 58% in 2002, shortly after the Bush administration put into place a round of tax cuts.
Perceptions of income tax fairness, perhaps surprisingly, vary little by household income level. Fifty-seven percent of those whose annual household income level is below $75,000 say their taxes are fair, as do 54% of those whose income is $75,000 or above.
In fact, there are no notable differences by most major demographic groups. The biggest differences are based on political affiliation, with Democrats and political liberals much more likely than Republicans and conservatives to believe their taxes are fair.
Thus, the decline in Americans' belief that their taxes are fair is due mostly to Republicans' changing views. Taxes have been at the forefront of much of the debate over economic and budgetary policy in recent years, although, in reality, federal income taxes have not changed for most Americans since Obama took office, because the president has preserved the Bush-era income tax cuts for all but the highest-income Americans.
Half Say Their Taxes Are Too High
The poll also finds half of Americans saying their income taxes are "too high," with most of the rest (45%) saying they are about right. Two percent believe their taxes are "too low."
Last year, 46% of Americans said their taxes were too high, tying the record low in the Gallup trend dating back to 1956. A record-high 69% of Americans said their taxes were too high in 1969.
Gallup has asked this question periodically over the years -- in 1977 and 1978, in 1994, and three times since 2010. In almost every instance, at least a plurality of Americans have expected their taxes to be raised.
Implications
Although a majority of Americans still believe the income taxes they pay are fair, the 55% who say so is the lowest Gallup has measured since 2001, before the first of two rounds of federal income tax cuts went into effect. Since the second round of tax cuts in 2003, income taxes have held at about the same level, though Congress and the president did agree to raise income taxes on the wealthiest Americans as part of the agreement to avoid the "fiscal cliff" tax increases that were scheduled to go into effect this year.
It is possible that this tax increase affected how Americans perceive their own federal income taxes, even though very few Americans on a percentage basis would likely have seen an increase. However, nearly all working Americans are now getting less take-home pay since the Social Security payroll tax holiday expired at the beginning of this year.
The percentage of Americans who say their federal income taxes are too high is on the low end of what Gallup has measured historically, but more Americans than in 2012 expect their taxes to go up this year. It is unclear whether taxes will change this year, given that President Obama and the Republicans in Congress disagree on the need for, and the desirability of, tax increases.
Survey Methods Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted April 4-7, 2013, with a random sample of 1,005 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.
For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points.
Interviews are conducted with respondents on landline telephones and cellular phones, with interviews conducted in Spanish for respondents who are primarily Spanish-speaking. Each sample of national adults includes a minimum quota of 50% cellphone respondents and 50% landline respondents, with additional minimum quotas by region. Landline telephone numbers are chosen at random among listed telephone numbers. Cellphone numbers are selected using random digit dial methods. Landline respondents are chosen at random within each household on the basis of which member had the most recent birthday.
Samples are weighted to correct for unequal selection probability, nonresponse, and double coverage of landline and cell users in the two sampling frames. They are also weighted to match the national demographics of gender, age, race, Hispanic ethnicity, education, region, population density, and phone status (cellphone only/landline only/both, cellphone mostly, and having an unlisted landline number). Demographic weighting targets are based on the March 2012 Current Population Survey figures for the aged 18 and older U.S. population. Phone status targets are based on the July-December 2011 National Health Interview Survey. Population density targets are based on the 2010 census. All reported margins of sampling error include the computed design effects for weighting.
In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.
View methodology, full question results, and trend data.
