PIGOU LIVES!:

NY voters prefer sales tax hike to more income tax (MICHAEL VIRTANEN, February 18, 2009, Associated Press)

If state taxes must be increased, most New York voters would rather see it happen at the checkout line instead of in their pay stubs, according to a new poll.

With the state facing a budget deficit estimated at $14.2 billion for the coming fiscal year, a Quinnipiac University poll found more popular support for cutting services than raising taxes, 51 percent to 34 percent. There wasn't any clear preference for where to trim the roughly $120 billion state budget.

"New Yorkers to Albany: Cut services before you raise taxes," said Mickey Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "If you have to raise taxes, the sales tax is the choice."