VIRGINIA – A growing number of state and local governments are considering big sales tax increases to pump up sluggish revenue, cut property taxes or pay for new programs.

The sales tax increases would be large – generally 1 cent per dollar or more – and produce billions of dollars in new tax revenue. By contrast, few significant proposals have been made to raise state income taxes, USA Today reports.

Polls show that the sales tax is the least-hated major tax. The property tax is disliked most, followed by the income tax, according to polls by the Tax Foundation and other groups.

It's unclear how many sales tax proposals will pass. The Florida legislature is deadlocked. A Washington Post poll last week showed that voters strongly oppose a sales tax hike in Maryland.

Nationwide, the slump in housing prices and construction is hurting sales tax collections because people are buying fewer construction materials and home furnishings such as appliances and furniture. Sales tax revenue rose 3.3 percent in the first half of 2007, the smallest increase since 2002.

Cutting property taxes by raising the sales tax is about politics, not tax policy, said Nate Bailey of the Tax Foundation. “Our tax code is complex because politicians seek political dividends without really shifting economic or tax policy,” he said.

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) backs a 1-cent sales tax increase, too – but not an income tax hike – to slash property taxes. A 1-cent sales tax increase would raise nearly $1 billion annually in Indiana.

In Maryland, Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) wants to raise the sales tax to 6 cents from 5 cents to close a budget shortfall estimated at $1.7 billion. On Monday he called the General Assembly into a special session to consider the proposal, which would raise more than $700 million a year.

The plan also would expand the sales tax to cover health clubs, tanning salons, real estate management and other services. “The sales tax is just one part of a comprehensive plan to solve a big structural deficit,” said Christine Hansen, the O’Malley’s spokesperson.

In New Jersey voters will decide Tuesday whether to dedicate 1 cent of the sales tax to property tax relief. The legislature raised the sales tax to 7 cents from 6 cents last year to cut property taxes and wants voters to pass a constitutional amendment approving the plan.

And in Florida the legislature considered a 1- or 2-cent sales tax hike to slash property taxes but on Monday approved a cut of $9 billion over four years without deciding how to pay for it. Voters will decide on the property tax measure January 29.