Stop Florida's bleeding

[Judi Lynn]

Stop Florida's bleeding

Palm Beach Post Editorial
Monday, January 12, 2004



There is yet more evidence that Florida's tax system is both unfair and unable to keep up with the state's needs. Sadly, there also is more evidence that Gov. Bush and the Legislature don't care.

Articles by The St. Petersburg Times have exposed loopholes and inequities in the state's corporate income tax. According to the paper's figures, which no one in Tallahassee has refuted, only 2 percent of the roughly 1.5 million businesses in Florida pay the tax -- 5.5 percent of net income. Corporate tax collections make up the smallest percentage of overall tax collections since 1972-73; voters had approved the tax one year before.

Here's the part that really matters. All those loopholes cost the state somewhere around $1 billion annually. This year alone, the Legislature cut $40 million from universities, shorted school districts, put medical care for thousands of poor children off limits and prevented 23,000 people from enrolling at community colleges.

Because corporate tax revenue is dwindling, Florida has to rely even more on the sales tax, which has its own unfairness. A sales tax is very regressive, meaning that the less people earn, the greater percentage of their income they pay in taxes. Since 1999, Gov. Bush and the Legislature have cut back the intangibles tax, with the wealthiest Floridians getting most of the benefits. With the state content to let companies exploit loopholes in the corporate tax and the wealthy to get tax breaks, the poor pay more. Meanwhile, state revenue is less and less able to keep pace with growth and demand for services.
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http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/auto/epaper/editions/monday/opinion_0410f986f56131f400e7.html

[ClintonTyree]

1. This state is..............

going to hell. It's the typical repuke ideology. You CAN"T tax the corporations, they're the ones creating the jobs! Yes, they're creating the jobs, in India. If this corporate welfare doesn't stop soon, states will be on the verge of bankruptcy. But again, that's the repukes ideology. They can then do away with all of those "entitlements" that soooooooo heavily burden big business. How dumbass Jeb ever got elected and re-elected is a mystery to me. Of course Floridians aren't the brightest people either and their school systems testify to that. They're ranked 48th I believe. Just the way the repukes like 'em, dumb as posts.