Jacob Ogles
As leaders in Tallahassee debate tax cuts, U.S. Sen. Rick Scott is making clear that he favors Speaker Daniel Perez’s approach.
The Naples Republican, who served two terms as Florida Governor, told Florida Politics he likes the proposal unveiled by the Florida House to cut sales taxes.
“We cut taxes over 100 times saving families over $1 billion when I was Governor so I think the state should cut taxes in every possible way,” Scott said. “Speaker Perez’s plan to cut the sales tax would help every Floridian — especially poor families like mine growing up.”
Perez, a Miami Republican, wants to see Florida’s sales tax rate cut from 6% to 5.25%.
“By reducing unnecessary expenditures and cutting wasteful spending, we are ensuring that taxpayers see more of their dollars at work for them — and back in their pockets, too,” Perez said when the House budget was released.
He published the plan with a budget that is $4.4 billion lower than a budget released by the Florida Senate and $2.7 billion less than one proposed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Scott’s support for Perez’s tax proposal also shows he favors a different tactic than DeSantis in delivering savings to Floridians. DeSantis, the Republican who succeeded Scott as Governor, wants to cut property taxes in the state, and has sounded cool to sales tax cuts.
Senate President Ben Albritton, a Wauchula Republican, has said he will carefully deliberate on both approaches.
But Scott has picked sides, and said he likes the proposals coming out of the Florida House.
“I will always believe in Florida job creators and the Florida economy, but the cost of living has gotten really high over the past few years, our job growth rate has slowed down and our unemployment rate has ticked up,” Scott said.
“I think the Speaker’s focus on finding cost savings in the state budget combined with this tax cut would be great for our state’s economy.”
