Wyoming voters prefer spending reductions over tax increases to balance the state’s budget and are open to cutting administrative education spending, according to a poll released Tuesday by the Wyoming Business Alliance.
The survey also showed that voters were opposed to increasing “sales and property taxes” in order to balance the state budget by a 46 percent margin.
“(T)he level of intensity against tax increases is extremely high,” Robert Jones, vice president of the GS Strategy Group, which conducted the poll, said in a statement.
The business group’s survey contrasts with one released by the Wyoming Education Association in August, which found that more than three-quarters of voters in the state were willing to pay more taxes to fund the cost of public education.
Wyoming is facing a $700 million deficit for the next two-year budget cycle ahead of the Legislature’s February session. Of that, the school operations account faces a $340 million funding gap, according to the latest revenue estimates.