As the economy struggles and state lawmakers make ever deeper cuts in state spending, the proportion of voters saying they want a “cuts-only budget” has shrunk from 37 percent of those surveyed last year to 20 percent this year, said Elway, the president of Elway Research, Inc., an independent Northwest research company.
In addition, 54 percent of the people surveyed in the latest poll said they’d be willing to pay a higher sales tax to stave off more cuts.
That was in response to this question: “The largest portion of state government revenue comes from the sales tax. Would you be willing to pay higher sales tax – say a fraction of a cent – in order to balance the state budget without further deep cuts to programs and services?”
It’s the first time Elway has asked that particular question, so the response can’t be compared to past polls. Still, he said, his polls suggest “this is kind of sinking in to people that there’s no easy way out of this.”
The poll is based on phone interviews with 408 registered voters Sept. 20-21. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.
It would take more than a fractional increase in the state’s 6.5 cent sales tax to pull the state out of its current hole. A penny increase would bring in around $1 billion annually.
A revenue forecast earlier this month estimated the state would collect $1.4 billion less in tax revenue than expected between now and the end of June 2013.
The new projection, combined with a down forecast in June, wipes out the state’s reserves and leaves a big hole in the budget. Gov. Chris Gregoire said she views it as close to a $2 billion gap, given the need to leave money in reserve.
Gregoire on Thursday called for a 30-day special session starting Nov. 28 to deal with the budget shortfall.
The governor said it’s premature to be talking about taxes. However, the Secretary of State’s office says the governor’s office and Democrats in the House and Senate have inquired about possible dates to put a referendum on the ballot.
Republicans say they remain opposed to tax increases.
