In a survey carried out for Northern Trust, 44 per cent of high net worth individuals said that growing the economy and creating jobs was the top priority for President Obama; 19 per cent cited reducing the deficit and 15 per cent said it was ending political gridlock.

The survey also found that tax planning is a function of wealth. For instance, compared to mass affluent households, wealthy individuals are more likely to use a wide range of ways to deal with changes in tax rates, such as using tax-free bonds, revising estate plans, and harvesting capital gains and gifting in 2012.

“Results show that high net worth Americans are taking active steps to adapt to a changing tax environment,” said Suzanne Shier, a tax strategist at Northern Trust. “This reflects what we have seen over the past year as we have helped many clients restructure estate plans, tax liabilities and investment approaches to make the most of opportunities and challenges ahead.”

However, some wealthy individuals did not have a tax plan in place for last year as they felt the fiscal environment was too uncertain to plan in.

The online interviews were conducted by Phoenix Marketing International and NIA Enterprises between November 16 and December 17, 2012. The data came from 1,700 online interviews.