Pew poll: No to tax boosts

It's a tough time to be mayor.

Most Philadelphians oppose the proposed tax hikes in Mayor Nutter's budget, according to a new poll from Pew Charitable Trusts that also reveals public support for hizzoner has weakened.

The survey, commissioned by Pew's Philadelphia Research Initiative, asked residents how they felt about Nutter's plans to raise sales and property taxes temporarily to deal with a $1.4 billion five-year budget gap. An overwhelming 86 percent of respondents opposed a property-tax hike and 53 percent were against a sales-tax increase.

And the poll suggests there is little support for a wage-tax increase either - which City Council has floated as a way to help close the budget gap. Sixty-eight percent of respondents opposed a wage-tax hike.

The poll, which surveyed 800 Philadelphia residents between April 6 and April 11, had a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.

In contrast with previous polling and the findings of the city's public budget outreach, citizens showed less support for paying more in taxes to get city services. Forty-eight percent of respondents preferred fewer services and the same taxes, while 35 percent chose the same services and higher taxes.

In a February Pew poll, respondents split evenly when asked a slightly different version of this question: Would you pick more taxes and more services or lower taxes and fewer services? Forty-four percent chose more taxes and services, and 45 percent chose fewer services and lower taxes.

Larry Eichel, project director of the Philadelphia Research Initiative, said that people are waking up to the reality of tax increases.

"It's not a hypothetical any more," Eichel said. "I guess I would argue that the town-hall meetings may have drawn the people who care more about city services."

But Eichel noted that while some people said they would accept fewer services, there was no real consensus on what the city should cut.

"Any way you look at it, there's no clear path forward laid out here," Eichel said.

The survey also showed that Nutter's support has waned in recent months as the city's financial situation has worsened. Fifty-nine percent of respondents gave Nutter a "very" or "somewhat" favorable rating, compared with 71 percent in February.

In particular, Nutter's support has weakened among African-Americans. A total of 46 percent of black respondents gave Nutter favorable ratings, compared with 64 percent in February.

Nutter's support largely held among whites. He got favorable ratings from 73 percent of white Philadelphians, compared with 78 percent in February.

Mayoral spokesman Doug Oliver said the administration was concerned about the mayor's ratings among African-Americans and hoped to make more efforts to engage that community.

"We haven't taken that message directly to the community block," said Oliver.

"There are certain things we can do." *