Raleigh, N.C. – Two-thirds of voters oppose the estate tax in North Carolina, according to a new poll released today by the Civitas Institute.
When a North Carolina resident dies, the state government levies a tax of up to 16 percent on assets above $5 million and everything else the deceased owned. The tax is levied in addition to the Federal estate tax of 35 percent. Sixty-six percent of voters oppose this practice while 25 percent said they support it. Seven percent said they do not know or have no opinion.
Voters of all party affiliations oppose the estate tax practice. Additionally, voters of all ages except those 18-25 (54 percent support – 46 percent oppose) oppose levying taxes on one’s assets after they die.
“Voters across North Carolina widely recognize the inherent immorality of turning revenue department officials into grave robbers. Hopefully, state lawmakers will recognize the near-universal opposition to the state death tax and act to end this gruesome practice,” said Civitas Institute budget and tax policy analyst Brian Balfour.
The Civitas Poll is the only regular live-caller poll of critical issues facing North Carolina. For more information on Civitas polling see http://www.nccivitas.org/category/poll/.
Full Text of Question:
“When a North Carolina resident dies, the state government levies a tax of up to 16% on assets above $5 million which includes businesses, homes, farm animals, bank accounts and everything else the deceased owned. The tax is levied in addition to the Federal estate tax of 35%. Please tell me if you support or oppose this practice?”
Total Support – 25%
Total Oppose – 66%
Strongly Support – 12%
Somewhat Support – 13%
Somewhat Oppose – 15%
Strongly Oppose – 51%
Don’t Know/No Opinion – 7%
Refused – 2%
For the full results and crosstabs, click here.
This poll of 600 likely 2012 general election voters in North Carolina was conducted October 17-18 2011 by National Research, Inc. of Holmdel, NJ. All respondents were part of a fully representative sample of probable 2012 general election voters in North Carolina. For purposes of this study, voters interviewed had to have voted in 2006 or 2008 or be newly registered to vote since November 5, 2008. (November 5 is the day after the election)
The confidence interval associated with a sample of this size is such that: 95 percent of the time, results from 600 interviews (registered voters) will be within +-4% of the “True Values.” True Values refer to the results obtained if it were possible to interview every person in North Carolina who had voted in the 2006 or 2008 general elections or is newly registered since November 5, 2008.
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In most cases the “assests” have already been taxed. I work hard for my money and possessions and should be able to pass them on to my heirs without them having to come up with large sums of money to “buy” their inheritence.