Q. Last week’s Federal Budget contained a levy on the big banks, which is forecast to raise $6.2bn from Australia’s five largest banks over the next four years. What do you think is most likely to happen as a result of this levy?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | ||
| Banks will pass on the cost of the levy to customers through higher fees, charges and interest rates | 78% | 85% | 72% | 83% | 90% | |
| Banks will not increase fees, charges and interest rate, and will pay the cost of the levy out of their own profits | 7% | 4% | 12% | 6% | 3% | |
| Don’t know | 15% | 11% | 16% | 11% | 7% |
78% thought that the banks would pass the cost of the levy onto their customers. The most likely to think this were other party/independent voters (90%), those aged 65+ (89%) and Labor voters (85%).
Only 7% thought that the banks would not increase their fees, and would pay the levy from their own profits. The most likely to think that this would happen were Liberal/National voters (12%) and those aged 25-34 (10%).