Unenlightened Self-Interest
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The results presented in the first column of Table 4 suggest that attitudes regarding the tax burden borne by the rich have a modest positive effect on support for repealing the inheritance tax—that is, people who think the rich pay too much in federal income taxes are somewhat more likely to favor repeal, while those who think the rich pay too little are somewhat less likely to favor repeal. So far, so good. However, this effect is dwarfed by the much larger effect of respondents’ attitudes about their own tax burden. The latter effect is also positive, meaning that people who think they are asked to pay too much in federal income taxes are substantially more likely to support repealing the inheritance tax—despite the fact that the vast majority of them never have been or would be subject to the tax.
Perversely, this apparent misplaced self-interest is most powerful among people whose own economic circumstances make them least likely to have any positive personal stake in repealing the inheritance tax. For example, in separate regression analyses by income class (not shown), the estimated effect of respondents’ own perceived tax burdens on their views about repealing the inheritance tax is about 70 percent larger for lower- and middle-class voters than for those in the top third of the income distribution (with family incomes over $65,000). Conversely, views about taxing the rich are virtually irrelevant among those in the bottom third of the income distribution (with family incomes under $35,000), and less relevant to the middle class than to those in the top third of the income distribution.