Widest partisan gap in views of fairness of tax system in at least two decades % who say the present federal tax system is Not too/Not at all fair
As the April 15 tax deadline approaches, overall public views of the fairness of the nation’s tax system have changed only modestly since 2017, before passage of major tax legislation. However, partisan differences on tax fairness have increased considerably since then, and now are wider than at any point in at least two decades.
Two years ago, Republicans and Democrats had similar views of the fairness of the tax system. Today, 64% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say the present tax system is very or moderately fair; just half as many Democrats and Democratic leaners (32%) view the tax system as fair. The share of Republicans who say the tax system is fair has increased 21 percentage points since 2017. Over this period, the share of Democrats viewing the tax system as fair has declined nine points.
Widest partisan gap in views of fairness  | of tax system in at least two decades  | % who say the present federal tax system is  | Not too/Not at all fair  | 58  | 55  | 52  | 51  | 50  | 8  | 50  | 48  | 46  | 41  | Very/ Moderately fair  | 1997  | 2002  | 2007  | 2012  | 2017 2019  | % who say the present federal tax system is  | very/moderately fair  | 64  | Rep/Lean Rep  | 50  | 410  | Dem/Lean Dem  | 32  | 1997  | 2002  | 2007  | 2012  | 2017 2019  | Note: Don't know responses not shown.  | Source: Survey of Time/CNN, U.S. adults conducted March 20-25, 2019.  | Trend sources: Survey Time/CNN, NPR/Kaiser/Harara and CNN polls.  | PEW RESEARCH CENTER 