"The Inquirer also reported today that a new poll showed that city residents by a 6-1 ratio favored city services over low taxes, indicating a willingness to pay more to avoid service cuts."
Well, that's not what I get from this:
Research 2000, a respected national polling firm based in Maryland, surveyed 650 Philadelphians by phone early last week. The poll has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
The survey asked residents whether they thought the city's share of state gaming revenue should be used for wage-tax cuts - as mandated by state law - or used to prevent cuts in city services. Only 10 percent of respondents thought the money should be used solely on tax cuts: 61 percent wanted to allocate the money to services, 23 percent thought the money should be split between tax cuts and service investments, and 6 percent were not sure.
Poll respondents also favored raising the wage tax - already among the highest in the nation - on the city's top 100,000 wage earners. They also supported the notion of making some tax-exempt businesses pay taxes.
Although tax-cutting advocates will likely take issue with the phrasing of some poll questions ("Do you favor or oppose budget cuts and layoffs?" for example), the survey nonetheless offers the first statistical snapshot of Philadelphians' reaction to the budget crisis.
And yes, it is easy to see why one would take issue with the phrasing. Duh.
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