Americans Deliberate Our Nation's Finances and Future: It's not about taxes: It's about trust

Publication Date: December 2006

Publisher: Public Agenda Foundation; Public Agenda Foundation

Author(s): Heidi Gantwerk; Isabella Furth; Steven A. Rosell

Research Area: Banking and finance; Economics

Type: Report

Abstract:

Two public opinion research studies from the nonpartisan "Facing Up to the Nation's Finances" initiative conclude that the public has little difficulty understanding the magnitude of the fiscal challenge facing the nation and is willing to consider tough tradeoffs to address the growing national debt. But public support comes with one key condition: finding ways to increase trust that their leaders will spend their money responsibly.

Viewpoint Learning's ChoiceDialogue report, Americans Deliberate Our Nation's Finances and Future: It's not about taxes: It's about trust shows that, given an opportunity to work through the issues, Americans find a surprising amount of common ground. They were willing to support changes that require sacrifice, including program cuts and tax increases, but only if they could be assured that their tax money was being well spent and for the purposes intended.