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Last updated 9:48 am CT November 20, 2009.
Voters Can't Agree What Cuts Are Needed
"Everybody always says, just cut the waste, fraud and abuse, well guess what, if you open up a state budget there isn't a line in there that says waste, fraud and abuse," said David Yepsen, Director of the Institute.
According to the poll, more than half of voters want to see big budget cuts. But they oppose cuts to education by more than 80 percent, cuts to programs for the poor by more than 70 percent and cuts to state parks by more than 60 percent. Even here locally it's not clear what tax payers would keep and what they would cut.
"I would think pensions of the state workers," said Doris Bush of Carbondale regarding what she would cut from the budget, "it just seems that they're pretty high."
"I have a little girl that's in a wheelchair and I know that special people need their home health things while their parents try to work," said Kate Behrens of Jackson County.
Yepsen says this polling shows just how tough a job lawmakers face because no matter what cuts are made, voters will be mad.
"Politicians are scared right now, they're very nervous," said Yepsen.
Only a third of voters say they'd support a tax increase, but most want to see it combined with spending cuts. Yepsen says this is the most likely scenario.
"There are gonna have to be cuts made, there are inefficiencies in government, everybody knows that, but you're not gonna cut your way out of this, so there are gonna have to be increases in taxes," said Yepsen.
Ideas to raise revenue include an income tax hike, a new sales tax on services like dry cleaning and hair cuts and higher taxes on cigarettes. However, Yepsen says he doesn't see any tax increases coming until after the February primary.
By Ryan Kruger
rkruger@wsiltv.com
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