Tax Increases Wildly Unpopular
Raleigh, NC – North Carolina voters do not support an NC Senate plan to create a new tax on certain services even if tax rates overall are lowered according to a new poll released today by the Civitas Institute.
According to the live caller poll of 600 likely voters, when asked if they approved or disapproved of a plan that would reduce the sales tax rate but would broaden the types of services taxed only 33 percent of voters approved of the measure. 53 percent disapproved, including 39 percent of voters who strongly disapproved. 14 percent were unsure.
“Voters are quite skeptical of expanding the state’s existing tax base to new services such as haircuts and home repair,” said Francis De Luca, executive director of the Civitas Institute. “The Senate has not convinced voters that this is a good idea before springing the plan on them out of the blue.”
When asked if they would approve or disapprove of the new tax plan if they knew it raised taxes an additional $500 million, voters summarily rejected the idea. 66 percent of voters said they disapproved of the plan while only 19 percent approved. 54 percent of voters said they strongly disapproved of the Senate’s proposal to raise taxes.
“In these troubling times, voters recognize that tax increases do great harm to our state’s ability to climb out of the recession,” added De Luca. “Voters are particularly wary of tax increases disguised at ‘tax reform.’ With two-thirds of the voters opposed to the Senate’s financing plan, Senators crafting the plan should be mindful that the voters will hold them accountable for raising taxes.”
The Civitas Poll is the only monthly live-caller poll of critical issues and policies facing North Carolina.
Full text of questions:
Do you approve or disapprove of a plan by the state legislature that would reduce the sales tax rate, but would broaden the types of services that are taxed, adding haircuts, painting your house and other services to the tax rolls?
Strongly Approve – 9.2%
Somewhat Approve – 23.8%
TOTAL APPROVE – 33.0%
Somewhat Disapprove – 14.2%
Strongly Disapprove – 38.5%
TOTAL DISSAPROVE – 52.7%
Don’t Know – 14.3%
Now, would you approve or disapprove of this plan knowing that it means raising taxes by $500 million dollars?
Strongly Approve – 4.0%
Somewhat Approve – 14.5%
TOTAL APPROVE – 18.5%
Somewhat Disapprove – 12.0%
Strongly Disapprove – 53.8%
TOTAL DISAPPROVE – 65.8%
Don’t Know – 15.7%
Click here to view the crosstabs.
This poll of 600 likely general election voters in North Carolina was conducted April 21-23, 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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