There is broad opposition to the proposed General Excise Tax hike now pending before the Honolulu City Council, according to poll results released yesterday by the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, a non-partisan, non-profit, public policy institute based in Honolulu.
Hawaii residents oppose the tax increase by a more than 3-to-1 margin.
During a poll conducted between July 8 and 10, 2005, an estimated 28,124 people responded to the question, “Do you support an Excise Tax increase of $450 per year?”
Though 4,242 people or 24.17 percent said they do support the tax hike, more than three times that — 13,427 people or 81.63 percent — said they do not support the tax increase.
The automated survey, conducted by cC Advertising, attempted to poll all 290,000 households in Hawaii.
To date, it is the only published poll that posed the question of whether people in the state are in favor of a tax hike.
Currently nine members of the Honolulu City Council are debating Bill 40, which would increase the state