Public Opinion and the Push to Repeal the Estate Tax

We examine the recent battle for federal estate tax repeal in order better to understand the role of public opinion in enacting legislation, particularly regarding low salience issues. Our analyses of the polling data show how the contours of public opinion were strategically used in the policy deba...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inNational tax journal Vol. 59; no. 3; pp. 439 - 461
Main Authors Birney, Mayling, Graetz, Michael J., Shapiro, Ian
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Chicago National Tax Association 01.09.2006
The University of Chicago Press
University of Chicago Press
Subjects
Estate taxes
Fiscal policy
Income taxes
Political interest groups
Politicians
Politics
Polls
Public opinion
Self interest
Studies
Tax cuts
Tax exemptions
Tax reform
United States > US
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Summary:We examine the recent battle for federal estate tax repeal in order better to understand the role of public opinion in enacting legislation, particularly regarding low salience issues. Our analyses of the polling data show how the contours of public opinion were strategically used in the policy debate. When the issue was framed as a matter of fairness, misperceptions of self-interest and principled beliefs about fairness combined to yield apparently overwhelming support for repeal. However, when it was instead framed as a matter of priority, majorities supported estate tax reform options over repeal Interest groups used the findings about public opinion in coalition-building and campaigns that changed the public image of repeal from extreme to mainstream. In sum, public opinion polls supporting repeal provided "running room" for politicians to vote for repeal.
ISSN:0028-0283
1944-7477
DOI:10.17310/ntj.2006.3.03