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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Voters prefer hiking sales taxes -- not property taxes -- to pay for new light rail lines in the Salt Lake valley, according to results of a newspaper poll.
In November, Salt Lake county residents will cast votes for a $895 million bond to pay for an expansion of the light rail system TRAX. If approved, the bond will cost residents about $95 each in year in property taxes on a $180,000 home.
Construction of four new light-rail lines are proposed.
But Dan Jones & Associates poll shoes 60 percent of county residents prefer hiking the sales tax over a rise in their property taxes, the Deseret Morning News reported in a copyright story Sunday. Twenty-eight percent of respondents said they preferred a property tax increase.
The poll of 378 Salt Lake County residents was conducted July 14-20, and has a margin of error of 5 percent.
"I hope this means that the governor and legislative leaders will see that the people of Salt Lake County want four new lines and that they'd prefer to pay for it with a sales tax increase," West Valley Mayor Dennis Nordfelt told the Morning News on Saturday. "I hope they give them that mechanism."
County council members voted last week to put the bond proposal on the ballot. A sales tax hike would require action by the Utah State Legislature, although lawmakers have been reluctant to discuss a tax increase.
Salt Lake Chamber president Lane Beattie said Saturday that he hopes public opinion can sway lawmakers. A transportation funding proposal by the chamber proposes sales tax hike in four counties to expand TRAX and commuter rail and do some road improvements.
The increase would raised $1.8 billion over 10 years.
In a second poll of 707 voters in Salt Lake, Davis, Utah and Weber counties, 68 percent of respondents said they would vote for a sales tax increase. About 28 percent would vote against the proposal. The poll had a margin of error of 3.7 percent.
"To me, it's very good news, and I'm certainly pleased that the general public agrees with the general business community," said Beattie. "I think that's very revealing."
Information from: The Deseret News,
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
