Table 2.
Perceived Health and Economic Impacts of Tax in Seattle Overall and by Income Level
| Overall | < 260% FPL | ≥ 260% FPL | p value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (N = 851)a,b | (N = 395)a | (N = 456)a | ||
| % (95% CI) | % (95% CI) | % (95% CI) | ||
| Opinion on Taxb | ||||
| Approve | 59% (55, 63%) | 52% (46, 58%) | 63% (58, 68%) | 0.021 |
| Disapprove | 37% (33, 41%) | 43% (37, 48%) | 33% (28, 38%) | |
| Don’t know | 4.4% (3.0, 6.3%) | 5.4% (3.2, 9.0%) | 3.8% (2.3, 6.2%) | |
| Child Well Beingc | ||||
| Tax will improve child health and wellbeing | 59% (55, 63%) | 53% (47, 59%) | 62% (57, 67%) | 0.021 |
| Tax will not improve child health and wellbeing | 37% (34, 41%) | 41% (36, 47%) | 35% (30, 40%) | |
| Don’t know | 3.9% (2.6, 5.6%) | 5.8% (3.5, 9.5%) | 2.8% (1.6, 4.9%) | |
| Public Healthc | ||||
| Tax will improve public health | 56% (52, 60%) | 48% (42, 53%) | 61% (55, 66%) | <0.001* |
| Tax will not improve public health | 40% (36, 44%) | 46% (40, 52%) | 37% (32, 42%) | |
| Don’t know | 4.3% (3.0, 6.1%) | 5.4% (3.2, 9.0%) | 2.9% (1.6, 5.0%) | |
| Seattle’s Economyc | ||||
| Tax will have a positive effect on the economy | 47% (44, 51%) | 44% (38, 50%) | 50% (44, 55%) | 0.31 |
| Tax will have a negative effect on the economy | 35% (32, 39%) | 37% (31, 43%) | 35% (30, 40%) | |
| Don’t know | 17% (15, 20%) | 19% (15, 24%) | 16% (13, 20%) | |
| Cross-Border Shoppingc | ||||
| Participant will not cross-border shop | 77% (74, 80%) | 72% (67, 77%) | 80% (76, 84%) | <0.001* |
| Participant will cross-border shop | 20% (17, 23%) | 21% (17, 27%) | 19% (15, 24%) | |
| Don’t know | 2.9% (1.8, 4.5%) | 6.1% (3.7, 9.9%) | 1.0% (0.39, 2.4%) | |
| Small Businessesc | ||||
| Tax will not negatively affect small businesses | 52% (48, 56%) | 47% (42, 53%) | 55% (50, 60%) | 0.096 |
| Tax will negatively affect small businesses | 39% (35, 43%) | 42% (36, 47%) | 37% (32, 42%) | |
| Don’t know | 9.0% (7.0, 11%) | 11% (8.0, 15%) | 7.7% (5.4, 11%) | |
| Job Lossc | ||||
| Tax will not result in job loss | 66% (62, 70%) | 58% (53, 64%) | 71% (66, 75%) | <0.001* |
| Tax will result in job loss | 23% (20, 26%) | 26% (21, 31%) | 21% (17, 26%) | |
| Don’t know | 11% (8.7, 13%) | 16% (12, 21%) | 7.9% (5.6, 11%) | |
| Family Financesc | ||||
| Tax will not negatively affect family finances | 79% (75, 82%) | 68% (62, 73%) | 85% (81, 88%) | <0.001* |
| Tax will negatively affect family finances | 18% (15, 21%) | 25% (21, 30%) | 14% (10, 18%) | |
| Don’t know | 3.6% (2.3, 5.4%) | 6.9% (4.4, 11%) | 1.6% (0.63, 3.9%) | |
| Impact on People with Low-income and People of Colorc | ||||
| Tax will positively impact people with low-income/people of color | 48% (44, 52%) | 44% (38, 49%) | 50% (45, 56%) | 0.18 |
| Tax will negatively impact people with low-income/people of color | 41% (37, 45%) | 43% (38, 49%) | 40% (35, 45%) | |
| Don’t know | 11% (8.7, 13%) | 13% (9.4, 17%) | 10% (7.2, 13%) | |
| Individual Choicec | ||||
| People will have the choice to drink the beverages they want | 71% (67, 74%) | 64% (59, 70%) | 75% (70, 79%) | 0.014 |
| People will not have the choice to drink the beverages they want | 26% (23, 30%) | 32% (27, 37%) | 23% (19, 28%) | |
| Don’t know | 3.0% (1.9, 4.5%) | 3.9% (2.1, 7.2%) | 2.4% (1.4, 4.2%) | |
CI confidence interval, FPL Federal poverty line
aValues are rounded to two significant digits. Missing data: opinion on tax (n = 1); cross-border shopping (n = 4), small business (n = 1); job loss (n = 1); impact on low-income people/people of color (n = 4); individual choice (n = 1)
bResponses included: strongly disapprove, somewhat disapprove, somewhat approve, strongly approve, don’t know. These categories are collapsed into: approve, disapprove, don’t know
cParticipants were read two statements and asked to indicate if the first statement was much closer, the first statement was somewhat closer, the second statement was much closer, or the second statement was somewhat closer. There was also an option to report “don’t know” or “refused” for each of the questions. These categories are collapsed into: the first statement was closer, the second statement was closer or don’t know
*Denotes statistically significant difference in participants’ response to all three response categories (agree, disagree, don’t know), comparing lower-income to higher-income participants after considering multiple comparisons, using the Holm-Bonferroni Sequential Correction (p < 0.01). Statistical significance estimated using a Chi-squared test