A.G. Gancarski
At Tuesday’s State of the State Address, Gov. Rick Scott evangelized — as he has for the past seven years — from the hymnal of tax cuts.
“This is my last Session to cut taxes,” Scott said, adding that “unfortunately, at some point, there will be politicians sitting in this chamber who are not as fiscally responsible as we are today.”
Scott’s asks: a constitutional amendment requiring a legislative supermajority for a tax hike; $180 million in tax cuts, including 10-day cuts in back-to-school sales taxes, disaster prep tax cuts for three separate weeks, and driver’s license fees.
If this sounds familiar to Jacksonville readers, it is: he made the same pitch here in November, when rolling out a budget proposal with much more robust spending than he had in 2011, when he first floated a budget.
Scott noted that he’d cut taxes 80 times since being elected, and reaffirmed his commitment to a Constitutional amendment requiring a 2/3 majority.
“I think the Legislature should think long and hard before ever raising a tax,” Scott said Wednesday in Jacksonville, adding that taxes should be cut every year in Florida.
“We’re walking into this budget year with $3 billion of projected revenue over recurrent expenses,” Scott noted.
