Citizens Strike a Balance: Discontent with Taxes, Content with Spending

In: Journal of public policy, Volume 5, Issue 3, p. 349-363

Abstract

A representative sample of Swedish adults (N = 964) was interviewed in 1981/82 regarding their opinions of the level of taxation in their country. Analysis indicates that opinions depend to a large extent on the framing of the problem: on general questions about taxes, responses are usually negative, but questions asking about both taxes & benefits usually elicit positive responses to both elements. Opinions about different kinds of taxes vary greatly, but the variation does not correspond to the predictions of the fiscal illusion theory. Rather, opinions about taxes can be assigned to three underlying attitude dimensions: general discontent, consumption, & company & property. Comparison with an earlier survey (Vogel, J. Aspirationer, mojligheter, skatte-moral, [Aspirations, Opportunities, Tax Morale], SOU, 1970, 25) shows that discontent with taxation has not increased since the 1960s, except in the case of marginal taxes. 6 Tables, 20 References. Modified HA