Poll: Philadelphians willing to pay more for better services

Not that they’re jumping at the chance to pay more taxes, but Philadelphians will fork over more money if it means better services.

That’s according to a poll released today by Pew Charitable Trusts’ Philadelphia Research Initiative, which finds that though a majority of residents think high taxes are a problem, 49 percent would prefer high taxes and more city services. Only 42 percent would trade lower taxes for fewer services.
A two-week telephone survey of 1,600 residents of voting age. The trend seen in the report shows more people favoring the higher taxes/more services combo than the alternative — lower taxes and fewer services.

That wasn’t the case in 2010, when 41 percent wanted the former and 43 percent the latter.