Asan Poll

2013AUG15
Asan Daily Poll

Understanding of Tax Reform Bill

  • Issue/Region :
    Governance,Korean Politics/Korean Peninsula
  • By.
    Kim Jiyoon / Research Division, Karl Friedhoff / Chicago Council on Global Affairs

ASAN POLL- The Asan Institute for Policy Studies

THE ASAN PUBLIC OPINION BRIEF

Tax Reform
UNDERSTANDING OF TAX REFORM BILL
August 12-14
Which statement about the Tax Reform Bill do you agree with?
(%)

Understanding of Tax Reform Bill

There has been controversy as to whether the 2013 Tax Reform Bill is in fact a tax hike. The government has claimed the bill only reduces tax-exempt benefits without raising taxes, but several media outlets and politicians have criticized the government for deceiving the people while increasing their tax burden.

Polls show 63.1% of Koreans believed the bill would increase their tax burden, and only 17.8% believed the bill would not raise taxes because it did not add new tax items or increase tax rates. In particular, those in their thirties (76.2%) and forties (72.2%) tended to view the bill as a tax hike. Among other age groups, in descending order, 65.4% of those in their twenties, 59.2% of those in their fifties, and 41.0% of those 60 or older viewed the bill as a tax hike.

METHODOLOGY

  • The sample size of each survey was 1,000 respondents over the age of 19.
  • The surveys were conducted by Research & Research, and the margin of error is ±3.1% at the 95% confidence level.
  • All surveys employed the Random Digit Dialing method for mobile and landline telephones.

3-day rolling average?
The sample size of each survey was 1,000 respondents over the age of 19. The surveys were conducted by Research & Research, and the margin of error is ±3.1% at the 95% confidence level. All surveys employed the Random Digit Dialing method for mobile and landline telephones.

This brief is a product of the Public Opinion Studies Center at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies.

Contact Karl Friedhoff at klf@asaninst.org.

About Experts

Kim Jiyoon
Kim Jiyoon

Research Division

Dr. KIM Jiyoon is a senior fellow in the Public Opinion Studies Program at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies. Previously, Dr. Kim was a postdoctoral research fellow at Université de Montréal. Her research interests include elections and voting behavior, American politics, and political methodology. Her recent publications include “Political judgment, perceptions of facts, and partisan effects” (Electoral Studies, 2010), “Public spending, public deficits, and government coalition” (Political Studies, 2010), and “The Party System in Korea and Identity Politics” (in Larry Diamond and Shin Giwook Eds., New Challenges for Maturing Democracies in Korea and Taiwan, Stanford University Press, 2014). She received her B.A. from Yonsei University, M.P.P. in public policy from the University of California, Berkeley, and Ph.D. in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Karl Friedhoff
Karl Friedhoff

Chicago Council on Global Affairs

Karl Friedhoff is a fellow in public opinion and Asia policy at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. He was previously a Korea Foundation-Mansfield Foundation US-Korea Nexus Scholar and a member of the Mansfield Foundation’s Trilateral Working Group. Friedhoff was previously based in Seoul where he was a program officer in the Public Opinion Studies Program at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies. His writing has appeared in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, among others, and he has been a frequent guest on both TV and radio to discuss US foreign policy in Asia, South Korea’s politics, and international relations in East Asia. Friedhoff earned his BA in political science at Wittenberg University and an MA in international commerce at Seoul National University.

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