Loving Taxation, Hating Single Taxes: Disentangling Temporal Distance and Abstraction in the Communication of Tax Proposals

Abstract

Progressive taxation is an effective way of redistributing wealth and reducing economic inequality, as such its promotion through efficient communication strategies is a key goal. Drawing on construal level theory, we test in five studies whether attitudes towards progressive taxation are improved by high (vs. low) construal communication focusing on generic (vs. specific) taxes that are temporally distant (vs. close). In two experiments (Studies 1 and 2, N​​_total = 522), we orthogonally manipulated the specificity and temporal distance of a tax proposal to disentangle the two sources of construal. Generic tax proposals obtained more consensus than specific ones, while no effect of the temporal distance was found. In Studies 3 (N = 373) and 4 (N = 353), the effect of generic tax proposals was mediated by their enhanced perceived importance. Moreover, we found that specific descriptions of taxes were also functional in promoting support, but only when containing multiple (vs. single) taxes. Study 5 (N = 499, pre-registered) provides compelling results for the central role of perceived importance, which proved as a consistent mediator, resistant to counter-argumentation. Together, our studies suggest that progressive taxation is supported when a radical change in the system is envisioned: A single progressive tax is not enough. Practical implications for tax communication are discussed.