Americans would pay more taxes to fix infrastructure-poll

PHILADELPHIA Jan 8 (Reuters) - A large majority of Americans are willing to pay higher taxes to fix crumbling roads, bridges and other public works projects, according to an opinion poll published on Thursday.

The poll conducted by Building America's Future, a non-profit group that promotes infrastructure projects, found 81 percent would agree to an extra 1 percent on their taxes to pay for infrastructure repairs, while 84 percent believe their state governments should increase spending on public works.

The poll, which surveyed 800 people across the United States, was unveiled on Thursday on a conference call hosted by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The poll had a margin of error of 3.5 percent.

Respondents insisted the money be spent wisely -- they rated accountability above the need for job creation and safety as their main concern for any national infrastructure program. Support for such a program was about equal between registered Democrats and Republicans, the poll found.

Forty-one percent of respondents said they wanted to ensure accountability for infrastructure projects, compared with 17 percent who rated job creation as the highest priority.

The poll came as President-elect Barack Obama repeated his call for a massive economic stimulus package that would include hundreds of billions of dollars in infrastructure spending in a bid to create millions of jobs and halt the deepening recession.

"A majority of Americans want to invest in building up our nation's infrastructure but they want to know that their money is being spent wisely," said Bloomberg, who launched a drive for more public works spending a year ago with Schwarzenegger and Rendell.

Respondents rated energy facilities such as power stations as the highest priority, followed by roads, clean water and the electricity grid.

People have more confidence in state governments to maintain public works than they do in the federal government. Fifty-one percent said their governor had been very effective in improving infrastructure in the last five years, compared with only 22 percent for political leaders in Washington.

Rendell warned that any public works program to emerge from the stimulus package would not fix the whole problem.

"This is only step one," he said, citing an estimate from the American Society of Civil Engineers that the country needs to spend $1.6 trillion just to repair existing infrastructure.

Rendell said he expects the states to receive a "substantial amount," of money which should be allocated by a board of oversight that would evaluate projects on the basis of merit and job creation.

Effective infrastructure renewal would also be dependent on private-sector capital which could be directed through an infrastructure bank, Rendell said. He also praised President-elect Obama's proposals for a "use-it-or-lose-it" rule for states to get federal funding as well as a ban on "earmarks," or pet projects by local lawmakers. (Editing by Gary Crosse)