By overwhelming majorities, across party lines and geographies, the American public supports the mission of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and rejects standard arguments against it.
The briefing paper linked below uses Penn-Wharton and IRS data to show how the financial sector is a big winner from the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, with almost $250 billion in tax benefits over the next decade flowing to financial firms just from the C-corporation provisions in the bill. Wall Street
For 5 years, Lake Research Partners and Chesapeake Beach Consulting have polled the public on Wall Street reform. For 5 years running, they have found broad, bipartisan support for the goals of the Dodd-Frank law — and more.
The 2017 AFR/CRL poll reveals strong, bipartisan support for further regulation of Wall Street, and widespread agreement with the mission of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
“Wall Street banks are already expert tax-dodgers. According to Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy data, nine of the largest and most profitable U.S. banks paid an average federal tax rate of only 18.6% between 2008 and 2015–far less than the statutory rate of 35%. …Tax plans from President Trump and House Republicans would only make it easier for Wall Street to rig the tax code and avoid paying their fair share.”
“Hard data on bank earnings and lending should lay to rest any notion that financial regulations are holding back the American economy, or getting in the way of American banks making money. These claims are just an excuse to to dismantle hard-won protections for consumers and financial stability.”