Dominic CalabroGovernor Scott: We see your $500 million, and raise you $500 million.
The Governor has proposed a $500 million tax cut for Floridians this year, and legislative leaders are working in Tallahassee to pick apart the budget and find a way to pass those savings onto Floridians.
Meanwhile, Florida TaxWatch recently identified more than $1 billion the Legislature could cut from the budget and return to Floridians.
Determining where to pull the funding for a multi-million-dollar tax cut can be difficult. Elected officials have to weigh priorities and decide which programs will get less money. But this February, the Legislature could avoid making those tough choices.
A recent Florida TaxWatch report identified more than $1 billion in efficiency improvements and cost savings that Florida could adopt this year. The savings would be more than enough to cover the cost of a $500 million tax cut, and best of all, no state services would be eliminated or reduced. In fact, the Legislature could double the proposed tax cut and still avoid making decisions that would hinder public programs.
Florida TaxWatch has been checking the state budget for cost-saving opportunities for the past five years. Since 2009, we have provided recommendations to the Legislature that help save hard-earned taxpayer dollars without slashing services. Many of our recommendations have been implemented, streamlining government and saving taxpayers more than $4.2 billion.
The Modern Management and Sensible Savings report from the TaxWatch Center for Government Efficiency outlines six recommendations for the 2014-15 state budget that lawmakers could incorporate now.
The first is one that Florida TaxWatch has championed for many years. This year, TaxWatch continues to urge the Legislature to appropriate funding to replace the Florida Accounting Information Resource, or FLAIR, which processes every financial transaction in the state, from the purchase of staplers to the collection of sales tax.
FLAIR is more than 30 years old and it’s inefficient. But, a greater concern than cost is that FLAIR may fail to process transactions in the near future. The antiquated system is likely to become overwhelmed. The failure of FLAIR would spell big trouble for Florida’s government, businesses and citizens.
Savings also abound by creating and following enterprise-wide best practices among all state agencies. Florida’s agencies and departments collaborate to provide services, yet internally they often operate independently. In private business, different departments adhere to one set of company policies. The state lacks a similar guide, so duplicative and inefficient policies run rampant in individual agencies.
To address this waste, TaxWatch recommends the Legislature create a statewide information technology office agency with the authority to set information technology (IT) policy and improve the procurement process for state agencies. These changes are desperately needed in Florida, as our state recently ranked last in IT management.
Just these few recommendations would save Florida millions of dollars. In a year where the Legislature is debating the cost of tax cuts, TaxWatch has already discovered how to pay for them.
To learn more about the six recommendations that could save Floridians more than $1 billion, visit www.FloridaTaxWatch.org/research
