DATE: Sunday, September 7, 1997             TAG: 9709070145

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: DECISION'97

SOURCE: BY WARREN FISKE, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  117 lines

POLL: EDUCATION RANKS HIGHER THAN CAR TAX VOTERS WOULD WANT A GUARANTEE THAT SCHOOLS GET MONEY

Charles Wiest was a Virginia Beach teen-ager in love with his first car, a Chevy Nova. One day his father came to him and demanded $200 to pay the personal property tax bill on the auto.

``I didn't have it,'' he recalled. ``I didn't even know there was a personal property tax. My father ended up paying it and told me to start saving for it the next time around.''

That was 28 years ago, and Wiest has been saving ever since. Today, the 45-year-old Methodist minister lives in Accomack County and puts away $100 a month to pay the levy on his pickup and two aging family cars. So Wiest's ears naturally perked up earlier this year when the two gubernatorial candidates offered competing plans to cut or eliminate the dreaded tax.

``I've been excited about it,'' he said. ``But on the other hand, I wonder what we're going to do without to get it. . . . If I could be absolutely convinced that proceeds from the tax were being earmarked to improve education, I'd be willing to keep on paying it.''

Wiest's sentiment was shared by many of the 802 Virginia adults who recently participated in a public opinion poll sponsored jointly by The Virginian-Pilot, The Roanoke Times and the Survey Research Laboratory at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.

Seven of eight participants said they favor eliminating the car tax. But Wiest and many others changed their minds when asked if they would prefer the tax cut or see the sum invested in public education. Two out of three said to keep the money for schools.

Asked for their preference between investing in higher education or having the tax cut, 50 percent chose colleges and 41 percent wanted the rebate. Asked to chose between more police on the street and the tax cut, 49 percent chose the law enforcement officers while 44 percent preferred the cut.

Looming before the next governor is a complex job of balancing concerns and setting priorities. That's the suggestion of the poll results as well as the impression from interviews and views expressed in town meetings held throughout Hampton Roads this summer.

People talked about state government and their personal priorities - including welfare, caring for aging parents, crime and punishment, transportation, improving education, and taxes and spending.

They said they are eager to listen to candidates who talk about education, personal safety and the future of children. But to date, the campaign has been dominated by talk of tax cuts.

Republican James S. Gilmore III established the tone this past spring when he pledged to abolish the personal property tax on all privately-owned cars assessed at less than $20,000. He has estimated the annual cost of the repeal, when fully phased in, at $620 million. The Virginia Municipal League said the cut will cost closer to $1.4 billion.

Democrat Donald S. Beyer Jr. initially dismissed Gilmore's plan as a gimmick. Two months later, Beyer put forth a more modest proposal to ease the burden of the auto tax. He would give state income tax credits to those who pay the levy: up to $150 for individuals who earn $40,000 or less annually and up to $250 for families that make $75,000 or less.

Beyer, who has been lieutenant governor for the past eight years, estimates his plan will cost $202 million annually.

He said the poll confirms what he has been arguing for months. ``It says there's no place in Virginia's future for a wholesale give-away like my opponent is proposing,'' Beyer said. He added that his own smaller tax-cut proposal, aimed at helping poor and middle-class citizens while keeping money to invest in education, is more in line with what Virginians want.

Gilmore dismissed the poll findings, saying they presented Virginians with a ``false choice.'' The former state attorney general said continued vibrant growth in the commonwealth will create ample revenues to simultaneously cut taxes, improve education and create thousands of college scholarships for top-notch students.

``This is not a black-and-white choice,'' he said. ``I don't think the poll says anything.''

Many Virginians who favor educational investment over the tax cut say their preference comes with a condition. ``If I could be absolutely guaranteed the money would go to education, I would let them keep it,'' said Vicki Berling, Virginia Beach homemaker.

But Berling and many others say they are concerned that the state would wind up using the money for other needs. They pointed to state promises in 1988 that if voters approved a lottery, the proceeds would be earmarked for building schools. Since 1990, however, the money has been put into the general fund to help balance the budget.

If it all sounds a little confusing, well, perhaps it is. Only 27 percent of Virginians see ``a lot of difference'' between Beyer and Gilmore. Thirty-four percent say there's not much contrast at all and 39 percent don't know.

The bottom line is that Virginians have yet to tune into the campaign, despite several million dollars worth of television advertising that Beyer and Gilmore bought over the summer to establish their identities.

For example, more than two out of three didn't know that Gilmore, who recently resigned as attorney general, has a background as a lawyer. Eighty-three percent could not identify which candidate had proposed the more sweeping tax cut plan for cars.

While some Virginians haven't yet attached candidate's names to programs, there are a few proposals they like more than others. For example, three out of five people say hiring more teachers would do more to improve public schools than giving instructors pay raises.

Gilmore is promising to hire 4,000 new elementary school teachers at a cost of $200 million. He is silent on teacher raises.

Beyer, on the other hand, is emphasizing pay. He pledges to spend $400 million to increase teacher salaries to the national averages. He would spend another $67 million to hire 973 new elementary teachers.

In general, Virginians seem satisfied with life in Virginia and the direction of state government under outgoing Republican Gov. George F. Allen - but not so pleased that they wouldn't consider making major changes.

Only 13 percent of Virginians say the state has become a safer place to live over the last four years, while 34 percent say it has become more dangerous. Only 22 percent say schools have improved over the same span; 26 percent say they have gotten worse.

All told, 46 percent believe the state is heading in the right direction and 43 percent say it is in need of ``fundamental change.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

The Virginian-Pilot

ELECTION '97

[For complete graphic, please see microfilm] KEYWORDS: POLLS ELECTION VIRGINIA ISSUES

EDUCATION

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