2:1 Against Taxing Service While Lowering Rates
Raleigh, N.C. – With the N.C. House and Senate Finance Committees set to convene in Raleigh tomorrow to debate reforming the state’s tax code, a new poll released today by the Civitas Institute shows that a majority of voters are opposed to the central plank of the plan – reducing state sales and income taxes while extending the sales tax to services.
According to the poll of 600 likely voters, 58.5 percent said they would oppose a plan by the N.C. General Assembly that would reform the state’s tax code by lowering the state’s sales and income taxes but would begin charging sales tax on services like auto repair, home repair and warranties. Only 27.8 percent of voters indicated support for the plan and 13.7 percent said they were unsure.
“Legislators face an uphill battle in attempting to convince North Carolina voters of their plan to reform the state’s tax code,” said Civitas Institute Senior Legislative Analyst Chris Hayes. “By a 2-to-1 margin, voters are opposed to a reform plan that would supposedly lower the rates but expand the base.”
Opposition to the tax reform proposal has been consistent throughout the year according to Civitas poling results. In May, 51 percent said they opposed the proposal in a Civitas poll.
Similar polling this summer found that the little support the plan has drops considerably if rates are not lowered or if overall taxes are increased similar to a proposal floated by the N.C. Senate earlier this year.
“Voters are skeptical of any move by the legislators to ‘reform’ the tax code. Having been lied to repeatedly about the expiration of supposed temporary taxes, voters have little faith in the General Assembly when it comes to taxes,” added Hayes.
The Civitas Poll is the only monthly live-caller poll of critical issues facing North Carolina. Full results of the poll will be revealed on the Civitas Institute’s Web site at www.nccivitas.org in the coming weeks.
Full text of question:
Do you support or oppose a plan by the General Assembly that would reform the state’s tax code by lowering the state’s sales and income taxes but would begin charging sales tax on services like auto repair, home repair and warranties?
SUPPORT – 27.8%
Strongly Support – 12.0%
Somewhat Support – 15.8%
OPPOSE – 58.5%
Somewhat Oppose – 14.0%
Strongly Oppose – 44.5%
DON’T KNOW – 13.7%
Click here for full results and crosstabs.
This poll of 600 likely general election voters in North Carolina was conducted October 20-21, 2009 by McLaughlin and Associates of Alexandria, Virginia. All interviews were conducted via telephone by professional interviewers.
Interview selection was random within predetermined geographic units. These units were structured to correlate with actual voter distributions in a statewide general election.
The poll of 600 likely general election voters has an accuracy of +/- 4.0% at a 95% confidence interval.
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