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Tax cuts out, spending in

Insights
. .
02 Sep 2021

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.

55 %

In 2016, a majority of Australians (55%) favoured government spending more on social services.

36 %

Around a third (36%) favoured less tax when asked to choose between the two options.

54 %

Nearly the same proportion preferred increasing tax (54%) over reducing social services spending (32%) when the question was flipped around.

18 %

However, comparatively fewer people reported “strong” support for tax increases (18%) compared with 29% “strong” support for increasing social spending.

Change in Proportionate Support for Government Reducing Tax versus Spending More on Social Services Over Time
If the government had a choice between reducing taxes or spending more on social services, which do you think it should do?
Sources & Methodology
Variable description % by year
Variable time span 1987 - 2016
Published by ANU Poll
Publisher Link https://csrm.cass.anu.edu.au/research/publications/tax-and-equity
Data Source doi:10.26193/NSSXHF
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