Poll: Raise taxes on the rich
http://journalinquirer.com/articles/2009/07/22/politics_and_courts/doc4a6716b3ddc62927345622.txt
By Keith M. Phaneuf
Journal Inquirer
Published: Wednesday, July 22, 2009 11:01 AM EDT
HARTFORD — More than seven out of 10 Connecticut voters favor the state income tax hike on the wealthy that Gov. M. Jodi Rell vetoed this month, a Quinnipiac University poll released today shows.
The poll also found that more than half of voters, 55 percent to 42 percent, don’t buy the argument long used to oppose levying higher taxes on the rich: That they will leave the state.
Voters also favor tax increases on corporations and cigarettes, but in general prefer service cuts to higher taxes.
“It’s really a compliment to the people of the state of Connecticut that they are paying attention to the budget issues,” Senate President Pro Tem Donald E. Williams Jr., D-Brooklyn, said. “They appreciate that these tough times require shared sacrifice, and that includes the wealthiest in Connecticut.”
Rell, a Republican, and state lawmakers are grappling with the largest projected budget deficit in state history. Analysts estimate finances could run from $8.2 billion to $8.85 billion in the red over this fiscal year and next based on spending and revenue.
Democrats, who control two-thirds of both the House and the Senate, in June adopted a plan that would boost taxes and fees by $1.2 billion a year.
A key proponent of that plan was to levy higher income tax rates starting on singles earning $265,000 or more per year and couples earning $500,000 or more. It also included a 30 percent surcharge on the estate tax, a 25 percent surcharge on the corporation tax, and an extra 75 cents per pack on cigarettes.
The new poll found 71 percent favor the income tax hike, with just 27 percent opposed.
By a margin of 51 percent to 45 percent, voters favor increasing corporation taxes, and by a margin of 72 percent to 26 percent they back adding 75 cents to the cigarette levy.
Rell, who vetoed the Democrats’ plan and has said that raising taxes would be the worst thing the state could do, has proposed deep cuts to social services, health care, and higher education.
The governor also recommends expanding gambling and “securitizing,” or selling, future gaming and energy revenue streams to obtain a reduced lump-sum payment now. Analysts estimate this could leave as much as a $2.8 billion annual hole in the state budget to be filled in the next term starting in January 2011.
Rell spokesman Rich Harris noted the poll also found that, by a margin of 60 percent to 30 percent, voters rather would cut services than see taxes increase.
“That has been the governor’s position all along,” he said. “Frankly, that has not happened yet.”
The poll surveyed 1,499 voters from July 16-20. Its margin of error is 2.5 percentage points.
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