Statements about imputation credits

Do you agree or disagree with the following statements?

	Total agree	Total disagree		Strongly agree	Agree	Disagree	Strongly disagree	Don’t know
Paying people money to compensate for tax they haven’t paid does not make sense	68%	16%		28%	40%	12%	4%	15%
The $6 billion per year spend on these tax credits would be better used funding spending on schools and hospitals	65%	20%		30%	35%	14%	6%	15%
The $6 billion per year spend on these cash refunds would be better used to stop the pension age from being increased to seventy	60%	23%		27%	33%	16%	7%	18%
Pensioners who own shares should not receive more in government payments than those who do not own shares	54%	30%		18%	36%	22%	8%	17%
The $6 billion per year spend on these tax credits would be better used to cut the budget deficit	53%	27%		16%	37%	20%	7%	20%
The vast majority of people receiving money to compensate for tax are wealthy	52%	26%		20%	32%	16%	10%	22%
The $6 billion per year spend on these tax credits would be better used funding income tax cuts	49%	27%		16%	33%	20%	7%	23%
Retirees receiving cash refunds should not have their payments reduced, no matter how wealthy they are	48%	32%		15%	33%	24%	8%	20%
The issue of dividend imputation is too complex for me to form an opinion	40%	41%		8%	32%	30%	11%	18%

40% agreed that the issue of dividend imputation is too complex for me to form an opinion.

Despite this, around 80% gave an opinion on each statement.

There was strongest agreement with the statements –

• Paying people money to compensate for tax they haven’t paid does not make sense (68% agree)
• The $6 billion per year spend on these tax credits would be better used funding spending on schools and hospitals (64%)
• The $6 billion per year spend on these cash refunds would be better used to stop the pension age from being increased to seventy (60%)

And while 54% agreed that “Pensioners who own shares should not receive more in government payments than those who do not own shares”, 48% agreed that “Retirees receiving cash refunds should not have their payments reduced, no matter how wealthy they are”.

A majority (52%) agreed that “The vast majority of people receiving money to compensate for tax are wealthy “.

Those who claimed to have more knowledge about dividend imputation were much more likely to think “Retirees receiving cash refunds should not have their payments reduced, no matter how wealthy they are” (60%) and more likely to disagree that the money would be better used funding schools and hospitals (40% disagree), stopping the pension age from being increased to seventy (42%), cutting the budget deficit (45%) and funding income tax cuts (50%).

	Total agree	Total disagree		Know a lot/fair amount agree	Know a lot/fair amount disagree		Know a little agree	Know a little disagree
Paying people money to compensate for tax they haven’t paid does not make sense	68%	16%		60%	34%		65%	23%
The $6 billion per year spend on these tax credits would be better used funding spending on schools and hospitals	65%	20%		51%	40%		60%	28%
The $6 billion per year spend on these cash refunds would be better used to stop the pension age from being increased to seventy	60%	23%		49%	42%		57%	30%
Pensioners who own shares should not receive more in government payments than those who do not own shares	54%	30%		53%	42%		55%	37%
The $6 billion per year spend on these tax credits would be better used to cut the budget deficit	53%	27%		45%	45%		54%	33%
The vast majority of people receiving money to compensate for tax are wealthy	52%	26%		48%	48%		52%	`31%
The $6 billion per year spend on these tax credits would be better used funding income tax cuts	49%	27%		43%	50%		52%	32%
Retirees receiving cash refunds should not have their payments reduced, no matter how wealthy they are	48%	32%		60%	33%		50%	41%
The issue of dividend imputation is too complex for me to form an opinion	40%	41%		28%	66%		30%	59%