A plan to hike Utah’s gas taxes is receiving stiff opposition from the state’s voters as fuel prices continue rising across the country, according to a poll published Monday.
Nearly 56 percent of registered voters do not support the measure, while another 42 percent support boosting the gas tax by 10 cents per gallon, notes the Salt Lake Tribune-Hinckley Institute of Politics poll. Utah’s reluctance to jump on board the increase comes as California considers repealing a similar measure passed through the legislature in 2017.
Utah lawmakers agreed to place the question on the November ballot as part of a compromise with Our Schools Now, a group hoping a gas tax increase will help raise $700 million in new school funding. Our Schools is also hoping to combine increases in sales and income taxes to fill holes in the state’s school funding woes.
An additional $100 million could be raised through the gas tax, according to lawmakers. The revenue from the proposed gas tax revenue would free up funding that is currently used for transportation costs instead of going directly to school coffers.
Previous polls showed a consistent margin of support for the Our Schools Now Initiative. But the new poll, which questioned 654 voters between June 11-18, suggests the gas-tax scheme might be spoiling the group’s campaign. But state officials believe support for the measure will increase once people understand the reason behind the increase.
“The public is just starting to hear about this,” Paul Edwards, spokesman for Republican Gov. Gary Herbert, told reporters Monday. “We’ll hear a lot more as we go into the November election.” Utah is not the only state getting grief for moving on a gas tax increase. (RELATED: Gas Tax Could Lead To A Big Win For Republicans In California)
California’s increase was uniformly despised. Nearly 58 percent of voters oppose the tax increase, including 39 percent who say they strongly reject the legislation, according to a survey UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies conducted shortly after the measure passed in April 2017. Only 35 percent of voters surveyed favor the law, which raises taxes on gasoline and diesel and hikes vehicle registration fees to fix roads and highways.
Opposition against the measure is widespread. Voters in all major regions of the state other than the Bay Area and all age categories over 30 are unhappy about it. Liberal voters are the only group that largely supports the law. Other polls are more split. More than 47 percent of likely voters favor repeal, while 48 percent oppose nixing the law, according to a poll the Public Policy Institute of California released in February.
California Republicans are mounting a campaign to motivate voters to repeal the gas tax increase. Some groups believe Utah’s push could get the same treatment. (RELATED: Governor Brown’s Move To Hike California’s Gas Taxes Could Doom Dems As Elections Approach)
Heather Williamson, Utah chapter director of the anti-tax Americans For Prosperity, told reporters it’s no surprise voters oppose an increase after years of surplus spending by lawmakers.
“There is definitely a spending problem, not a revenue problem, with education,” she said. “The money is there. We just need to allocate it more effectively, in a more responsible way.”
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