For Immediate Release – March 4, 2009
Contact: Mary Ellen Burke, (202) 349-5880

Study Finds Florida Fed-Up with High Taxes and Wasteful State Spending

WASHINGTON─ A new survey by the free-market grassroots group Americans for Prosperity, in partnership with Americans for Tax Reform, finds that 53 percent of Floridians believe state spending is too high. In addition, 59 percent said that they disapprove of their state legislature’s handling of budget issues. When asked to identify the most important issue in state budgeting, 54 percent identified wasteful spending on programs that do not work.

“Americans have simply had enough,” said Tim Phillips, president of Americans for Prosperity. “They’re on the hook for trillions of dollars of debt for bailouts, including bailouts for state governments. All of the massive borrow-and-spend policies that are being enacted will have to be paid back with huge tax increases in the future, and citizens are outraged.”

The survey also finds that lower-income residents oppose higher taxes, even if they are not forced to pay them. 61.5 percent of respondents earning under $30,000 rejected the idea of raising taxes on others. This percentage is actually eight points higher than the rest of the state at large, showing that low income residents understand the damaging impact of higher taxes, even if they are not the ones paying them.

Floridians also rejected the idea of taxes that are paid for by working poor and lower income groups, with a decisive 85 percent opposing the taxes.

The survey was conducted by Voter/Consumer Research, and is based on the responses of 607 registered voters across the state, conducted by telephone Feb. 2 - 5 of this year. The margin of error is +/- 4 percent.

The complete national and state results can be viewed by clicking here.