Why do (some) ordinary Americans support tax cuts for the rich? Evidence from a randomised survey experiment

David Hope, Julian Limberg and Nina Weber

European Journal of Political Economy, 2023, vol. 78, issue C

Abstract: Why do (some) ordinary citizens support tax cuts for the rich? We test four prominent explanations – unenlightened self-interest, fairness considerations, prospect of upward mobility, and trickle-down beliefs – using a randomised, online information provision experiment, embedded in a representative survey of around 3000 US Americans. The results show that preferences for taxing the rich are fundamentally affected by information that shifts citizens’ core fairness beliefs, as well as information on the past trajectory of top tax rates. In contrast, we find no evidence in support of the unenlightened self-interest or prospect of upward mobility explanations. Overall, our results align with theories of tax policy preferences that emphasise the importance of fairness perceptions and reference points.

Keywords: Top income tax; Inequality; Redistributive preferences; Top 1%; Tax cuts (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D63 D83 D91 H24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:poleco:v:78:y:2023:i:c:s0176268022001525

DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2022.102349

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