THANKS in part to the extraordinary measures taken to stop the global economic crisis turning into a worldwide depression, government budgets around the world are awash in a sea of red ink. Now that the worst is past, governments must think about how to reduce their deficits. Most will have to slash spending, or increase taxes, or do both. A new survey by GlobeScan and PIPA for the BBC World Service asked over 22,000 people in 22 countries which of these paths they would prefer their governments to take. A majority preferred a cut in spending to increased taxes, though the margin by which they did so varies. More than 80% of those polled in France favoured spending cuts, while only 8% supported tax increases. Britons were more divided about the relative merits of these two approaches, with just under half favouring spending cuts. Over a third of Britons favoured higher taxes, the highest such share for any country surveyed.

More Daily charts