Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Guest AuthorSeptember 23, 2015

Gov. Rick Scott has certainly been proactive when it comes to criss-crossing the globe in his efforts to relocate businesses and resulting jobs to Florida. But because millions of taxpayer dollars are spent annually to lure various corporations to the Sunshine State through agencies such as Enterprise Florida, it’s hard to fathom why our elected […]

Guest AuthorJuly 6, 2015

We expect state government to provide public goods and services. Elected officials bear the burden of deciding which services are offered and setting the tax rates and fees necessary to fund them. A look at Florida’s fragile revenue structure demonstrates the state will struggle to sustain the quality and scope of its current offerings. As […]

Guest AuthorJuly 5, 2015

We expect state government to provide public goods and services. Elected officials bear the burden of deciding which services are offered and setting the tax rates and fees necessary to fund them. A look at Florida’s fragile revenue structure demonstrates the state will struggle to sustain the quality and scope of its current offerings. As […]

Daniel TilsonJune 23, 2015

The tall, thin man stood surveying the inside of the giant warehouse full of forgotten, misbegotten and just plain old rotten rejects and has-beens. He stood frozen a few moments before looking up at countless 50-foot-high rows of hopelessly overloaded dark metal shelving and storage units as far as the eye could see. His head […]

Christine Jordan SextonMay 15, 2015

Nine days after announcing the dates, the Florida Legislature issued the proclamation for the special session. The call is wide open, including Medicaid expansion, elimination of certificate of need law, direct primary care, state group health insurance changes,the budget and conforming bills from the 2015 regular legislative session and tax relief. As previously announced, the […]

Guest AuthorApril 22, 2015

“Severe negative fiscal impact.” For more than five decades, local governments and utility companies have had a very good arrangement that works well for everyone. When a private utility needs to run such things as transmission or cable lines, the utility enters into an agreement with a local government and the agreement allows the privately […]

Daniel TilsonMarch 25, 2015

Wake the kids, time to celebrate “Cut My Taxes Week” with Rick Scott! Um… “Hip-Hip…Hooray?” Or is that, “Hip-Hip…I broke my damned hip and your crummy little tax cut can’t help, I need health insurance!” The main event features Gov. Scott and special guests (pinch yourself) that include University of Florida mascots Albert and Alberta […]

Shannon NickinsonJanuary 26, 2015

Pensacola’s business community made its pitch for the 2015 legislative session. Now it will be time to let the chips fall where they may in Tallahassee. At the recent Greater Pensacola Chamber of Commerce’s 2015 Legislative Luncheon, chairman of the board of directors Justin Beck said the group had three broad areas of interest as […]

Associated PressJanuary 5, 2015

Gov. Rick Scott is going to use his inauguration day speech to urge residents from other states to move here because of Florida’s lower taxes. The Republican governor will be sworn into a second term Tuesday. Scott narrowly won re-election in November. After he is sworn in, Scott will give a speech arguing that limiting […]

Shannon NickinsonOctober 23, 2014

Santa Rosa County voters first had the chance to fund construction of a new courthouse in 2002. That measure failed, but the need to replace the nearly 90-year-old facility in downtown Milton, about 25 miles from Pensacola in the Florida Panhandle, has only grown in the intervening 12 years. And if it fails again on […]

Tag: taxes
Crowds gather to see Atlantis at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. (Gabrielle Russon)

Bill White: Florida could “decouple” horse racing, breeding right out of business

Dale Brill: State faces decisions about providing government services, managing expectations

Dale Brill: State faces decisions about providing government services, managing expectations

Daniel Tilson: Rick Scott phones it in with 2015 tax-cutting "victory tour"

Special session called by Senate and House and it’s wide open on health care, budget

Sam Ferreri: Raising taxes by any other name

Daniel Tilson: Gov. Rick Scott's Magical Mystery 'Tax Cut Calculator'

Shannon Nickinson: Health care, taxes top business legislative list

Rick Scott: Tax cuts, keeping government small helps state

Shannon Nickinson: Our infrastructure is expensive and mostly invisible until it breaks