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By Rob Moritz

Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK -- Arkansas voters say they favor proposals to abolish food and over-the-counter medicine sales taxes and to make animal torture a felony, according to a Stephens Media Group-Arkansas News Bureau poll.

Opponents of both issues, which will appear on the Nov. 5 ballot, said Thursday they are not surprised by the results because the proposals sound good on the surface. Below the surface, however, the proposals are vague and would create more problems than most people realize, opponents said.

The poll of 501 registered voters by Opinion Research and Associates of Little Rock shows 72 percent favor removing the sales tax on groceries and nonprescription drugs.

On stiffening the animal cruelty law from a misdemeanor to a felony, 60 percent said they favor the proposal.

The strongest opposition comes from the state's southern and western sections, according to the poll, which surveyed an equal number of voters from the state's four congressional districts.

Those areas make up much of the state's animal farming industry.

In the 2nd District, which takes in Central Arkansas, 22 percent oppose it, and in the 1st District of eastern Arkansas, 27 percent oppose the measure.

The poll was taken between Aug. 19 and Saturday and has a 4.5 percent margin or error.

Ernie Oakleaf, the pollster, said he wasn't surprised that a majority favor repealing the sales tax on food and medicine.

"I can't think of anything more popular than repealing a tax," he said.

Karl Kimball of Little Rock, chairman of the Axe the Food Tax Committee, said Thursday he, too, was pleased by the poll results.

"That seems to me to be an awful ringing endorsement from Arkansas voters," Kimball said. However, he added that work still needs to be done just to get the measure on the ballot.

The proposed constitutional amendment came up short earlier this month in the number of signatures of registered voters needed to get it on the Nov. 5 general election ballot.

Supporters are scheduled to turn in more than 20,000 additional signatures today in an effort to reach the 70,601 signatures of registered voters.

Critics of the proposed constitutional amendment, including Gov. Mike Huckabee and House Speaker Shane Broadway, D-Bryant, have expressed concern that abolishing the food tax would drain $168 million from the state's Medicaid budget by eliminating the soft drink tax.

The state also would lose $180 million in sales tax revenues generated by the sale of groceries and over-the-counter medications, they say.

The Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce and Associated Industries of Arkansas also opposes the proposal, saying approval would likely lead to an increase in the general sales tax.

Meanwhile, Lyndon Poole, campaign coordinator for the Arkansas Animal Cruelty Act, said he is pleased with the poll results, but is planning for opponents to launch a major campaign against the proposal between now and November.

"We also believe that once the facts come out about what the act will and will not do that an even stronger majority of Arkansans will indicate support for this," Poole said.

Under the proposal, it would be a Class D felony to knowingly torture, mutilate, maim, burn, poison, maliciously kill, starve or disfigure any domesticated animal. Anyone convicted would face up to six years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, or both.

As a misdemeanor it is punishable by up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.

Under current state law, the penalty is harsher for someone who destroys a painting of an animal than it is for someone who mutilates an animal, the proposal's supporters say.

Rodney Baker, director of the Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation, said the measure could interfere with legitimate farm management practices and could also be a weapon for animal rights activists.

Baker, along with representatives from several organizations -- the Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation, Arkansas Cattlemen's Association, Pork Producers and the Poultry Federation -- have formed a coalition called Arkansans For Responsible Animal Laws to oppose the measure.