Louisiana taxpayers want to solve the state’s budget crisis with a variety of spending cuts and tax increases, while additionally spending more on higher education.

At least, according to a new study conducted by the LSU Public Policy Research Lab.

On Dealing With Budget Shortfall’s, The Study Found:

• 83 percent of taxpayers want to see the state’s budget crisis fixed via spending cuts and tax increases.
• Only 13 percent said spending cuts should be the main solution for budget problems, while just two percent said tax increases should be the fix.
• A whopping 72 percent of residents said they thought a wide emphasis should be put on spending cuts in order to fix budget shortfalls. Only one in five residents said the same about tax increases.
• Louisiana residents want tax increases, but cannot decide on which specific taxes should be raised.

Here’s a breakdown:

This research seems about right. But, this is where the sense-making ends for the LSU study and starts to seem as though the results are self-serving to LSU.

On Dealing With Higher Education Funding:

According to the study, taxpayers actually want increased spending on elementary and secondary education, higher education and healthcare. These are some of the most expensive government programs.

Apparently, welfare programs are the only large state government program that taxpayers agree should be cut, with 49 percent supporting to cut government assistance.

Likewise, the LSU study found that 63 percent of Louisiana residents say it is the state that should be paying for the majority of higher education, not students and their families.

The study says that 79 percent of Democrats surveyed believe the majority of higher education funding should be supported by the state, while 45 percent of Republicans apparently believe the same.

In fact, the study found that taxpayers want to increase spending for every government program except welfare.

Take a look:

Though wanting to increase higher education spending, the majority of the public believes 44 cents of every dollar spent by state government is wasted, according to the study.

Is it not odd that a study conducted by LSU finds that taxpayers want budget cuts, but at the same time, believe universities and colleges should have their funding increased by state government?

And with the 2015 Louisiana Legislative Session about to begin, it is hard not to speculate about LSU’s intentions with odd results in a study like these, considering the universities recent outcry for funding not to be cut.