SCE PUBLIC POLICY SURVEY
April Survey: Consumers Expect Decreases in Federal Benefits, Reduced Medicare, and Lower Taxes
- Average expectations of decreases in housing assistance, federal student aid, subsidized preschool education, federal welfare benefits, social security benefits, and paid parental leave all increased sharply in April to series highs. The average perceived likelihood of a reduction in Medicare also increased to its highest reading since April 2017.
- The average perceived likelihoods of decreases in the gasoline tax, capital gains tax, payroll tax, average income tax rate, and the income tax rate for the highest bracket all retreated slightly in April but remain close to series highs.
- The average perceived likelihood of an expansion in Medicare decreased to 16.6 percent in April from 20.2 percent in December, the lowest reading of the series since April 2018.
Editor’s Note: We are currently working through some technical issues in the interactive charts regarding the display of dates along the x-axis. As a result, data for November 2015-2016 are currently not presented in the interactive charts; data for all years remain available to download, however.
About:
The SCE Public Policy Survey is fielded every four months as a rotating module of the Survey of Consumer Expectations (SCE). The data are updated online as results come in.
