Gray Rohrer
Gov. Ron DeSantis received mediocre marks from the Cato Institute, a Washington-based libertarian think tank, on his fiscal policies, ranking 18th among all 50 Governors in a report the group released Wednesday.
Cato scored Governors on a scale from zero to 100 based on seven tax and spending factors. DeSantis received a score of 58, good enough for a “C” grade in Cato’s analysis.
“This report grades governors on their fiscal policies from a limited‐government perspective. Governors receiving an A are those who have cut taxes and spending the most, whereas governors receiving an F have increased taxes and spending the most,” the report states.
The report, which is released every two years and only reviewed actions since 2020, used seven factors in its scores: average change in per capita spending proposed by a Governor; average change in per capita spending enacted; average annual dollar value of proposed, enacted or vetoed tax changes; annual change in the top personal income tax rate; change in the top corporate income tax rate; change in the overall sales tax rate; and the change in the cigarette tax rate.
Because Florida’s Constitution includes a ban on a state-level income tax, DeSantis’ score suffered compared to other Governors who lowered that tax in their state. And while DeSantis signed some corporate tax cuts approved by the GOP-led Legislature in 2021, the hodgepodge of sales tax holidays DeSantis enacted didn’t budge the overall sales tax rate.
“Diverting surpluses from being used to expand programs is good policy, but it would have been better to enact permanent tax reforms, such as cutting the corporate tax rate. DeSantis’s tax cuts have been mainly temporary and thus count for less in the scoring of this report,” the report states.
In total the five Governors who received “A” grades are all Republicans and the eight who received “F” grades are all Democrats. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds got the highest mark of 78 and an “A” grade, while Washington Gov. Jay Inslee received the lowest score of 28 and an “F” grade.
4 comments
Paul Pizzarelli
October 12, 2022 at 5:51 pm
Tax cuts only make rich people more rich and that money doesn’t trickle down. These people are idiots. Should stick to poop shoveling, extortion schemes, and back alley sideshows 😂
David In Shoreline
October 12, 2022 at 6:52 pm
Tax cuts are great but Florida already has the 1st or 2nd lowest tax burden in the nation, depending on the source. I’d say that deserves an A grade for the Governor and the Legislature.
Joe Corsin
October 12, 2022 at 7:17 pm
Also if Florida didn’t grift the rest of the country to a husk and come up on cocaine back in the 1980’s then it would be Mississippi with a beach. These politicans down here are empty suits and don’t have the sense that God gave an ape. As for their voters, just a bunch of side hustlers, grifters, low wage plantation owners and slaves, rentier capitalists, and almost forgot to mention law enforcement and prison industry is big for anyone who falls by the wayside of any legal grift. Social darwinism down here.. nobody gives a fuck about anyone but themselves really. Church people put on the biggest show though 😂
Virginia Dart
October 13, 2022 at 8:39 am
The Governor and Legislature do not raise enough revenue to fund the needs of the state. We have a housing crisis, a homelessness crisis, a public health crisis, and more. Schools are grossly underfunded. Money goes to plane flights for asylees from Venezuela and to replenish sand on the beaches that will be taken out by a future storm..
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