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April 12, 2021

Corporate Tax Rate

As part of President Biden’s American Job’s Plan, which is an over $2 trillion investment in infrastructure and more, he also launched the “Made in America Tax Plan”. That plan focuses on the taxes paid by large corporations and specifically proposes to raise the corporate tax rate up to 28%. The corporate tax rate had been 35% since 1994 until it was reduced to 21% by the Tax Cut and Jobs Act enacted in 2017 under the Trump Administration.

Biden did receive some immediate pushback on the 28% number and others have suggested 24% or 25% as an alternative instead. In any case: it is likely that something will happen with the corporate tax rate in the coming months so we asked our users what they think and gave them 5 options to choose from:

  • 15% (capital gains rate under Bush Jr)
  • 21% (current rate enacted by Trump)
  • 21%, but with an increase in capital gains taxes (tax gains of shareholders)
  • 24% (average tax rate of OECD countries)
  • 35% (previous corporate tax under Clinton, Bush & Obama)

2,630 of our users weighed in. It turns out that a clear majority of 3 in 4 people feel that we should increase taxes on corporations. Only 1 in 6 believe that we should decrease corporate taxes below its current level.

The headline result
15%
17%
21%
9%
21%, and increase capital gains tax
16%
24%
20%
35%
37%
 See the details below →

We wondered whether the popularity of “Taxing The Rich”, which is how taxing large corporations at higher rates is often perceived, would be more popular with those earning lower incomes. There is some truth to that, with 43% of those earning middle incomes supporting a return to the Clinton-Bush-Obama corporate tax rate. However, overall support for higher taxes on corporations is strong among all groups: even higher incomes support some form of increase by a large majority of 70%.

The crosstabs
<50k
17%
9%
18%
18%
38%
50k-100k
17%
13%
21%
43%
>100k
17%
13%
18%
23%
29%
15%21%21%, and increase capital gains tax24%35%
 See the details below →

The main predictor for support for a corporate tax increase is party affiliation. A majority of Democrats want to go back to the pre-Trump rates, and another 33% want some sort of increase. Republicans, on the other hand, are 50/50 split: half would like to stick with the Trump rate of 21% or lower it even further. The other half wants to see at least some sort of increase.

The crosstabs
Dem
15%
18%
60%
Rep
30%
19%
20%
18%
13%
Ind
10%
18%
26%
37%
15%21%21%, and increase capital gains tax24%35%
 See the details below →

With strong support among the American people for some sort of increase of taxes that are paid by large corporations (or their shareholders), it is likely that the corporate tax rate in 2022 will not stay at the 21% that is at today. It seems that an outcome between the 24% average of all OECD countries and the Biden proposal of 28% seems to be the most logical outcome that would have majority support in the country.

The Details

We also asked this question once before:

The answers as asked

Charts and tables use the short label at the start of each line.

  1. 15%: The US should cut the corporate tax rate even further to 15%.
  2. 21%: Our current corporate tax rate of 21% is at the correct level.
  3. 21%, and increase capital gains tax: The reduction of our corporate tax rate to 21% should have been accompanied with an increase of the capital gains tax rate.
  4. 24%: The US should be in the same range as other OECD countries, therefore a corporate tax rate of 24% is appropriate.
  5. 35%: The US should raise its corporate tax rate back to 35%.

The full crosstab table

ActiVote · Corporate Tax Rate · April 12, 2021
ActiVote 2630 RV 15% 21% 21%, and increase capital gains tax 24% 35%
National ±1.9% MoE 17% 9% 16% 20% 37%
Gender Men 24% 9% 14% 16% 37%
Women 11% 9% 19% 25% 37%
Age 18-29 15% 7% 15% 23% 40%
30-49 16% 10% 17% 24% 32%
50-64 20% 8% 17% 17% 38%
65+ 17% 11% 18% 16% 38%
Ethnicity White 20% 17% 7% 22% 34%
Black 10% 2% 16% 19% 51%
Latino 17% 5% 16% 23% 39%
Education High school 19% 7% 15% 16% 42%
Some college 18% 6% 18% 25% 33%
Bachelor's 14% 14% 16% 19% 37%
Income <50k 17% 9% 18% 18% 38%
50k-100k 17% 5% 13% 21% 43%
>100k 17% 13% 18% 23% 29%
Affiliation Dem 6% 1% 15% 18% 60%
Rep 30% 19% 20% 18% 13%
Ind 10% 8% 18% 26% 37%
Region Dark Red 36% 6% 15% 8% 35%
Light Red 8% 5% 22% 34% 31%
Swing 19% 13% 18% 16% 34%
Light Blue 14% 16% 9% 19% 42%
Dark Blue 11% 6% 17% 23% 43%
Methodology. Fielded April 2021 among 2630 registered voters nationwide. Responses weighted by Demographics and Spectrum. Average expected error ±1.9%. See Why trust our polls? for the methodology, disclosures and accuracy record.