According to the results of a survey commissioned by the the Institute for the Study of Societal Issues, the vast majority of Estonian citizens do not support the planned VAT, income tax and fuel excise duty hikes, in the case of the first two there is slight support only among supporters of the Reform Party.
However, in the case of alcohol and tobacco excise duty, there is a preponderance of respondents who support these measures.
Norstat presented the respondents with the measures related to the economy and state budget balance written in the coalition agreement or announced in the media and people were asked to indicate the extent to which they support each measure on a four-point scale.
Regarding the plan to increase the VAT from 22 percent to 24 percent, 84 percent of the respondents said “do not support” or “rather do not support”, 13 percent said they “rather support” or “support” it and 3 percent did not have an opinion.
Regarding the 5 percent increase in fuel excise duty, 83 percent of respondents answered “do not support” or “rather do not support”, 15 percent said they “rather support” or “support” it and 2 percent had no opinion.
Regarding the raising of income tax to 22 percent, 81 percent of respondents answered “do not support” or “rather do not support”, 15 percent “rather support” or “support” and 4 percent did not have an opinion.
34 percent of respondents did not support or rather did not support the increase in alcohol excise duty, 62 percent said “rather support” or “support” and 4 percent said “don’t know”.
Regarding the plan to raise the tobacco excise duty, 27 percent of respondents said “do not support” or “rather not support”, 69 percent “rather support” or “support” and 4 percent said “don’t know”.
Regarding the VAT increase, 99 percent of the supporters of the Center Party, 95 percent of Estonian Conservative People’s Party (EKRE) voters, 93 percent of Isamaa supporters and 83 percent of Social Democratic Party (SDE) voters said that they do not support it. Among Reform Party voters, 44 percent do not support and 53 percent support this measure.
Regarding the income tax increase, 98 percent of EKRE, 92 percent of Isamaa, 91 percent of the Center Party and 69 percent of SDE voters said that they do not support it. Among Reform Party voters, 46 percent do not support and 50 percent support this measure.
In the case of the increase in fuel excise duty, supporters do not have a majority among the voters of any parliamentary party. 65 percent of EKRE supporters and 53 percent of the voters of the Center Party do not support the increase in alcohol excise duty, but among the voters of other parliamentary parties there is a preponderance of respondents who support this measure. 52 percent of EKRE voters do not support the increase in tobacco excise duty, while voters of other parliamentary parties support the measure. There were too few supporters of Estonia 200 in the sample to highlight the results separately.
The survey was conducted by pollster Norstat online on July 22 among Estonian citizens aged 18 and older with a total of 1,000 respondents participating in it.
Source: BNS
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