Do people really dislike wealth taxes more than other types of taxes? Evidence from a survey-experiment representative of the Italian population

We designed a Survey Experiment (SE) to study the attitudes of the Italians towards wealth, income and consumptions taxes. In particular, we interviewed a sample of 2,400 subjects drawn from a larger representative pool of 120,000 individuals. Beside collecting information about individuals’ values and beliefs, the survey also gathered information about (i) the preferred tax base, (ii) the attitudes towards replacing all the taxes with a unique tax, possibly on wealth, (iii) the views in regard to proposals to increase public expenditure by resorting to taxes of various kind and in different scenarios. We find that wealth taxes are definitely preferred to consumption taxes and that this preference is at par with income taxation. Wealth taxes are justified by the fact that they reflect one’s ability to pay. Opposition emerges when it is feared that wealth taxes end up increasing tax pressure and when the value of the main residence is included in the tax base. In general, support for the wealth tax weakens when self-assessed economic status improves and the belief in well-deserved success strengthens. Political inclinations play a minor role. Proposals to involve the EU authorities into the decision processes regarding taxation and expenditure receive only lukewarm responses.