Australians are divided over whether there should be tax cuts or more Government spending. Until the mid-90s in Australia there was considerably more preference for reducing taxes, but this has been in steady decline. A majority of Australians now favour spending on social services.
In 2016, a majority of Australians (55%) favoured government spending more on social services.
Around a third (36%) favoured less tax when asked to choose between the two options.
Nearly the same proportion preferred increasing tax (54%) over reducing social services spending (32%) when the question was flipped around.
However, comparatively fewer people reported “strong” support for tax increases (18%) compared with 29% “strong” support for increasing social spending.