Danny McAuliffe
He’s no Donald Trump, but Governor Rick Scott is beginning to peek out of his Twitter shell.
Three consecutive tweets fired off from the Governor’s state account Tuesday (he has a campaign one, too) mark a break from Scott’s online persona of unflinching positivity. His digital activity is usually reserved for highlighting progress or appearances across the state — but this time the Governor had some fun.
Following a study from WalletHub that showed Florida had the fourth lowest tax burden, Scott dished out comments to leaders of three of the better-ranked states via Twitter.
The remarks are competitive, but they’re by no means aggressive. And with Scott’s clout, they should warrant some interesting responses, especially because two of the other governors aren’t Republicans.
Subtle shade was thrown at Alaska Governor Bill Walker, a former Republican who was elected as an independent candidate in 2014. Scott “congratulated” him on keeping taxes low for a small population (talk about a backhanded compliment):
.@AkGovBillWalker, a new @WalletHub study ranks FL 4th for tax burden, while AK is 1st. Congrats on keeping taxes low for your 800,000 residents. We've already cut $10B in taxes for our 21 million residents. We look forward to taking the title soon #TaxDay https://t.co/4wwEzXM0gd
— Rick Scott (@SenRickScott) April 17, 2018
Delaware Gov. John Carney, a Democrat, got a friendly lesson from Scott: There’s no personal income tax in the Sunshine State:
.@JohnCarneyDE, a new @WalletHub study ranks FL 4th for tax burden, while DE is no. 2. Congrats on your ranking, but you should know that FL has no personal income tax, bringing savings to Floridians on #TaxDay. We'll keep fighting to cut taxes https://t.co/4wwEzXM0gd
— Rick Scott (@SenRickScott) April 17, 2018
Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, a Republican, was reminded that Florida is dead set on keeping taxes at bay:
.@BillHaslam, a new @WalletHub study ranks FL 4th for tax burden, while TN is No. 3 – just a reminder that FL will never stop fighting to cut taxes, & we look forward to overtaking TN in the ranking very soon #TaxDay https://t.co/4wwEzXM0gd
— Rick Scott (@SenRickScott) April 17, 2018
Scott’s Twitter fingers are itchin’ — and it’s no surprise the uptick in digital activity comes after his entrance into the U.S. Senate race.
Though the term-limited Governor has made a point of flexing on other states in the past, touting Florida’s fertile business climate in attempts to convince companies to relocate.
He told businesses in Connecticut last year to “give up” on the Nutmeg State, and in 2016 made headlines when he suggested Yale come to Florida. In October, he brought a similar message to Chicago, Illinois.
The WalletHub rankings were released on April 9, the day Scott launched his bid to unseat incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson. Scott wisely released the Tweet assault on Tuesday, as it’s the federal deadline for reporting 2017 income.
Per WalletHub, “To determine the residents with the biggest tax burdens, WalletHub compared the 50 states across the three tax types of state tax burdens — property taxes, individual income taxes and sales and excise taxes — as a share of total personal income in the state.”
