A new SoonerPoll shows a majority of Oklahomans support the business and civic leaders group Step Up Oklahoma in its push for higher taxes and government reform to fix the state government budget crisis.
Nearly 70 percent of likely-voting Oklahomans say they support what the group is pushing.
“I believe, had we polled a proposal similar to this 6 months to a year ago, we would not have found such broad-based support for such a plan,” said Bill Shapard, founder of SoonerPoll. “Voters today are hungry for a solution to a problem that has plagued our state for far too long.”
[QUESTION] Would you SUPPORT or OPPOSE a comprehensive package of tax increases [LISTED HERE] if you were assured by additional governmental reforms that the additional funding would go ONLY to solve the current state budget deficit of $100 million, give teachers a $5000 increase in pay, and avoid future revenue shortfalls such as this one?
| 1. Strongly support | 41.8% |
| 2. Somewhat support | 27.4 |
| COMBINED SUPPORT | 69.2 |
| 3. Don’t know/Refused [DNR] | 6.3 |
| 4. Somewhat oppose | 10.8 |
| 5. Strongly oppose | 13.6 |
| COMBINED OPPOSE | 24.4 |
Nearly 72 percent of Democrats supported the comprehensive plan along with nearly 73 percent of Independent voters, but surprisingly, 66.4 percent of Republicans also supported the plan.
“Anti-tax Republicans need to understand their party is not monolithic in its thinking and there are a lot of Republicans in the state that believe government needs to meet its constitutional requirement of a balanced budget — even if that means an increase in taxes,” Shapard said.
A plurality of 43.4 percent of likely voters believed income taxes were too high in the state, but even 63.1 percent of these voters supported the Step Up proposal.
“This shows me voters view the current state budget impasse as a crisis that needs to be solved now,” said Shapard. “And they see this plan, that asks all Oklahomans to step up together and pay a portion to solve it, as the answer.”
SoonerPoll has polled various tax increases or new taxes in the past and typically found that Oklahomans oppose such measures.
“In general, neither Democrats nor Republicans want to raise taxes,” said Shapard. “That’s why the support for this proposal is so unusual because, again, Oklahomans want this crisis to end.”
Shapard went on to note that the lengthy list of well-respected business and community leaders behind the Step Up plan was also contributing to its support of voters.
Support was consistent among various demographical subsets including education, gender, age and where one might live in the state.
