President Donald Trump has a way to go in convincing Americans that a big tax cut for corporations would benefit them too, which has been a central part of his sales pitch. Corporate tax cut unpopular with voters, poll shows

Cutting the corporate tax rate to 15 percent would be far less popular than getting the rate that low for small businesses, according to a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll.

In fact, six in 10 respondents said corporations pay too little in taxes.


Two-thirds of respondents said tax reform legislation should include language that would let small business owners pay a 15 percent rate instead of requiring them to pay the personal income rate of up to almost 40 percent. By contrast, 34 percent supported cutting the corporate rate to 15 percent from 35 percent.

That indicates President Donald Trump has a way to go in convincing Americans that a big tax cut for corporations would benefit them too, which has been a central part of his sales pitch.

"We are going to reduce taxes for our companies. And those companies are going to produce jobs," Trump said before a meeting Tuesday with congressional leaders and administration officials who are trying to hammer out a consensus tax reform plan.

Tax cuts for individuals, which Trump and congressional Republicans also advocate, are far more popular. Seventy-four percent of those polled said they support tax cuts for the middle class

Trump has been pushing for a 15 percent rate for all businesses. House Republicans proposed a 20 percent rate for corporations and a top tax rate of 25 percent for small businesses.

Most poll respondents said Congress should focus on tax reform now that lawmakers have returned from their August recess — 38 percent said passing a bill should be a top priority, and another 31 percent listed it as an important but lower priority.

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Among specific provisions that could be in the bill, 55 percent said they favored doubling the standard deduction, 62 percent supported increasing tax benefits for child care, and 40 percent backed eliminating itemized deductions, except for benefits tied to homeownership and charitable donations.

Eliminating the estate tax drew support from 55 percent of respondents, though 61 percent said upper-income people pay too little in taxes and only 14 percent said they pay too much. Middle-income people pay too much in taxes, 60 percent said, and 52 percent said lower-income people pay too much.

The survey, taken from Aug. 31-Sept. 3, polled 1,993 registered voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percent.

Morning Consult is a nonpartisan media and technology company that provides data-driven research and insights on politics, policy and business strategy.

More details on the poll and its methodology can be found in these two documents — Toplines: http://politi.co/2gEdRKE | Crosstabs: http://politi.co/2f0QuLe