Poll: Majority Of Americans Support Wealth Tax To Pay For Tuition-Free College And Erase Student Debt

A majority of Americans support a wealth tax for the 75,000 richest families in the country to erase most student loan debts and make community and state colleges tuition-free, according to a poll released Monday.

The Hill-HarrisX survey, conducted between April 27 and April 28, found 64 percent of registered voters supported the same education reform plan recently proposed by Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

“Some people will say we can’t afford this plan,” Warren wrote in a Medium post April 22. “That’s nonsense. The entire cost of my broad debt cancellation plan and universal free college is more than covered by my Ultra-Millionaire Tax — a 2% annual tax on the 75,000 families with $50 million or more in wealth.”

The poll did not attach the 2020 hopeful’s name to the proposal, but rather gave the provisions.

Participants were asked if they supported a “recently announced” higher education reform plan costing $1.25 trillion over 10 years. It would cancel up to $50,000 in student loan debt for 42 million Americans and would make two and four-year colleges tuition-free.

Sixty-seven percent of voters between 18 and 64-years-old supported the plan while 53 percent of those over 65 were drawn to the proposal, The Hill reported.

Nearly 80 percent of Democrats, 66 percent of Independents and 48 percent of Republicans approved of the plan.

Almost 60 percent of respondents earning $75,000 or more per year were also enthusiastic about the reform.

The survey had 1,002 respondents with 37 percent as Democrats, 29 percent as Independents, 32 percent as Republicans and 2 percent identifying as something else. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.