Americans Willing to Pay Higher Taxes to Tackle Global Warming

A majority of Americans polled would pay higher taxes, or accept a higher price on a new home, if it meant the added money was going toward energy efficiency improvements that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions linked to global warming, according to a new poll by GfK Public Affairs and the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies.

More than 2,000 people were polled by telephone, and there's a +/- 3 percentage points sampling error.

Here's a look at the results:

• 74% would support local regulations requiring all newly constructed homes to be more energy efficient, even if it would increase the initial cost of a new home by roughly $7,500.
• 72% would support local subsidies encouraging homeowners to install electricity-generating solar panels on existing homes, even if it would cost households an extra $5 per month in increased property taxes, because of the potential savings in energy and money on utility bills.
• 71% would pay $5 a month more in property taxes in support of a local subsidy to encourage homeowners to replace old furnaces, water heaters, air conditioners, light bulbs and insulation.
• 69% would pay $8.50 more a month for local regulations requiring electric utilities to produce at least 20% of their electricity from wind, solar and other renewable energy sources.
• 68% would approve changing their city or town zoning rules to decrease suburban sprawl and concentrate new development near the town center.
• 65% would support changing their city or town zoning rules to require neighborhoods to have a mix of housing, offices, industry, schools and stores close together.
• 53% would back city or local fees added to electricity bills to encourage people to use less electricity.
• 57 percent of Americans oppose changing city zoning rules to promote construction of apartments rather than single-family homes, and 64 percent oppose charging a 10-cent city or local fee on each gallon of gas to encourage people to use less fuel.

Those findings suggest that there's widespread support, at least in principle, for progressive policies aimed at "smart growth" planning that encourages compact dense development around existing town centers, which de-emphasizes the need to drive a car and allows more walking, biking and use of public transportation to get to school, shopping, work and recreation. In other words, reducing sprawl reduces emissions, and people are speaking up in favor of that -- for the most part (they still don't want apartment houses in their towns, overall, and they don't want any taxes on gas).

The survey should support the efforts of local politicians and advocates -- particularly in fast growing parts of the country -- who want to see progressive land use policies in place. Few communities require new homes to meet Energy Star efficiency standards, and few towns offer incentives for energy efficiency renovations -- though those seem to be popular policies among poll-takers.

"City and local leaders are critical players in the effort to reduce global warming, and it’s clear that their constituents want action," said Anthony Leiserowitz, director of Yale Project on Climate Change, one of the sponsors of the groundbreaking survey measuring public opinion of local government-led green initiatives. "The public is on board and willing to help foot the bill. All that’s left to do now is act."

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