Author(s) :

Kevin He.

Volume/Issue :

Abstract :

Wealth taxes are a type of tax that is imposed based on the individual’s assets above a certain threshold (1). Progressive income taxes, by contrast, apply higher rates to higher earners. This study measured attitudes toward both taxes among adults in Howard County, Maryland, and examined whether residents believed that higher income tax rates lead to greater tax evasion. An anonymous online questionnaire was distributed via Google Forms through the author’s personal network and local Facebook, Nextdoor, and Reddit groups, yielding a nonprobability convenience sample of 83 adult respondents. Participants reported demographic information and rated their agreement (5-point scale) with implementing a progressive income tax and a wealth tax and indicated whether they believed higher income-tax rates increase evasion. Responses were summarized with counts, percentages, medians, and interquartile ranges. Wilson score confidence intervals were calculated for proportions, paired agreement ratings were compared using a Wilcoxon signed-rank test and a Spearman rank correlation, and belief in evasion was compared across age groups using Fisher’s exact test and a Cochran–Armitage test for trend. Support for a progressive income tax (median 4, IQR 3–5) exceeded support for a wealth tax (median 3, IQR 2–5), and 72.3% of respondents believed higher income-tax rates would increase evasion. Because the sample was small, local, self-selected, and demographically unrepresentative, the findings are exploratory and cannot be generalized to Howard County or the United States.