Citizens' Willingness to Support New Taxes for COVID-19 Measures and the Role of Trust

Lachapelle, Erick, Bergeron, Thomas, Nadeau, Richard, Daoust, Jean-François, Dassonneville, Ruth and Bélanger, Éric, Citizens' Willingness to Support New Taxes for COVID-19 Measures and the Role of Trust (11 January 2021)

44 Pages Posted: 11 Mar 2021

See all articles by Erick Lachapelle

Erick Lachapelle

University of Montreal

Thomas Bergeron

University of Toronto; University of Montreal

Richard Nadeau

University of Montreal - Department of Political Science

Jean-François Daoust

University of Edinburgh

Ruth Dassonneville

University of Montreal - Department of Political Science

Eric Belanger

McGill University

Date Written: January 11, 2021

Abstract

The COVID-19 public health pandemic saw governments spend trillions of dollars to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus as well as to soften the economic blow from the shutting down of national economies. Subsequent budget shortfalls raise the question of how governments will pay for the direct and indirect costs associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. In this paper, we study the public’s willingness to contribute through paying a new tax. We find that both generalized social and political trust are associated with a greater willingness to support a COVID-related tax and that generalized social trust in particular attenuates the negative effect of an experimentally manipulated, specified level of tax burden on policy support. These findings entail important implications for the public opinion and tax policies literatures, and also for policymakers.

Keywords: COVID-19, public health, generalized social trust, political trust, economic recovery, tax policy, willingness to pay

JEL Classification: I1, I18, H12, H24, H41

Suggested Citation

Lachapelle, Erick and Bergeron, Thomas and Nadeau, Richard and Daoust, Jean-François and Dassonneville, Ruth and Belanger, Eric, Citizens' Willingness to Support New Taxes for COVID-19 Measures and the Role of Trust (January 11, 2021). Lachapelle, Erick, Bergeron, Thomas, Nadeau, Richard, Daoust, Jean-François, Dassonneville, Ruth and Bélanger, Éric, Citizens' Willingness to Support New Taxes for COVID-19 Measures and the Role of Trust (11 January 2021), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3801843 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3801843

Erick Lachapelle (Contact Author)

University of Montreal ( email )

C.P. 6128 succursale Centre-ville
Montreal, Quebec H3C 3J7
Canada

Thomas Bergeron

University of Toronto ( email )

105 St George Street
Toronto, Ontario M5S 3G8
Canada

University of Montreal ( email )

C.P. 6128 succursale Centre-ville
Montreal, Quebec H3C 3J7
Canada

Richard Nadeau

University of Montreal - Department of Political Science

Pavillon Lionel-Groulx
3150, rue Jean-Brillant
Montréal, Québec H3T 1N8
Canada

Jean-François Daoust

University of Edinburgh ( email )

Old College
South Bridge
Edinburgh, Scotland EH8 9JY
United Kingdom

Ruth Dassonneville

University of Montreal - Department of Political Science

Pavillon Lionel-Groulx
3150, rue Jean-Brillant
Montréal, Québec H3T 1N8
Canada

Eric Belanger

McGill University

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