New HarrisX Poll: Voters Want a Corporate Tax Rate at or Below the Rate of Our Competitors, Worry Tax Hike Will Ship Jobs Overseas
Voters believe the US corporate rate should be at or below the rates of our foreign competitors – including China — and believe that raising taxes on businesses could ship existing jobs overseas and result in new jobs being created overseas instead of in America. A majority of independent voters — 53 percent — oppose raising the corporate tax rate to 28 percent. These are among the key findings of a recent poll by HarrisX commissioned by Americans for Tax Reform.
The poll was conducted by HarrisX between March 31 to April 6 among 4,577 registered voters. The margin of error of this poll is plus or minus 1.45% and the results reflect a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults weighted for age by gender, region, race/ethnicity, and income where necessary to align them with their actual proportions in the population.
Key findings include:
Voters say raising taxes on businesses will make it more likely that existing jobs will be shipped overseas and that new jobs will be created overseas instead of in America.
- 59 percent of respondents said that raising taxes on businesses will make it “more likely” that existing jobs will be shipped overseas including 73 percent of Republicans, 50 percent of Democrats and 50 percent of independents.
- Just 18 percent of respondents said it was “less likely” jobs will be shipped overseas, and 24 percent of respondents said “it makes no difference.”
- Similarly, 60 percent of respondents said that raising taxes on businesses will make it “more likely” that new jobs will be created overseas instead of in the US including 72 percent of Republicans, 52 percent of Democrats, and 54 percent of Independents.
Voters think it is important to consider the tax rates in other countries when thinking about changing the US rate.
- 68.5 percent of voters thought it was important for the US to consider the corporate tax rates in other countries when thinking about changing the US rate including 26 percent of respondents that thought it was “very important” and 42 percent of respondents that thought it was “somewhat important.”
- Just 31.5 percent of voters thought it was unimportant including 13 percent of voters that thought it was “very unimportant” and 19 percent of voters that thought it was “somewhat unimportant.”
- 25 percent of Independents thought it was “very important,” while 43 percent thought it was “somewhat important.” Just 12 percent of Independents thought it was “very unimportant” and 20 percent thought it was “somewhat unimportant.”
Voters prefer a corporate tax lower than China’s 25 percent rate.
- After voters were informed that China has a 25 percent corporate rate and Europe has an average corporate rate of 22 percent, they were asked “At what level should the US set the corporate tax rate?”
- Among all respondents, the median answer was 21 percent.
- The average answer amongst independents was 21.4 percent and the median result was 21 percent. Amongst Republicans, the average answer was 21 percent, and the median answer was 20 percent. Among Democrats, the average answer was 23.5 percent the median answer was 23 percent.
A majority of voters oppose raising the corporate rate to 28 percent.
- 53 percent of respondents oppose raising the rate from 21 percent to 28 percent including 28 percent of respondents that “strongly oppose” and 26 percent that “somewhat oppose.”
- 47 percent of respondents support raising the rate from 21 percent to 28 percent including 23 percent of respondents that “strongly support” this tax increase and 24 percent that “somewhat support” it.
- Independents largely tracked alongside all respondents – 53 percent of independents opposed raising the rate including 24 percent “strongly opposing” and 29 percent “somewhat opposing.” 26 percent of independents “somewhat support” raising the rate and 21 percent “strongly support.”