Popular Opinion on Tax Cuts and Social Security

Abstract

A review of recent opinion polls reveals the U.S. public's views on budget priorities and Social Security. The public wants more spending on Social Security, Medicare, and other domestic programs, chiefly education and health care, and prefers these spending priorities—by up to a 70 percent majority—to paying down the national debt and cutting taxes. The public supports the Social Security system but doubts it can continue to deliver the goods. To remedy this problem, it is willing not only to use part of the surplus but to raise the cap on payroll taxes. The public does not support benefit cuts or an increase in the retirement age. And the public remains unsure to hostile about the role of the stock market, whether in individual accounts or in the Social Security trust fund.