Public Would Pay More for Environment

MOST Americans are willing to pay an additional $200 a year in taxes to help clean up the environment, but many are confused over how to deal with the messy problem, a new survey shows. Seventy percent said they would be willing to pay $200 more in taxes each year to help clean up the environment, while 25 percent said they wouldn't. And 44 percent said they'd be willing to pay an extra $500 in taxes earmarked for environmental projects.

The Time magazine and Cable News Network survey, released Sunday, found that 80 percent of those asked agree with the statement: ``There are so many contradictory things said about the environment that it is sometimes confusing to know what to do.''

It also found that 64 percent of the respondents regularly return cans or bottles to their recycling center, while 17 percent never do. And 50 percent said they regularly save newspapers for recycling. Yet only 29 percent of those questioned said they avoid products from companies with poor environmental records.

Sixty-four percent of those surveyed admitted that they ``should be doing more'' to clean up the environment.

Respondents were split on a national environmental strategy. Forty-eight percent said they think the nation should ``go full speed ahead'' in spending money to clean up the environment; 47 percent said that given other national problems, it would be better to ``go slow,'' the survey found.

Time and CNN questioned 1,000 adults on Nov. 27 and 28. The sampling error is plus or minus 3 percent.