Governor Charlie Crist undertook a multi-city tour of ceremonial bill-signings Wednesday – touting the unemployment compensation tax delay approved by lawmakers and signed officially by Crist on last week’s opening day of session. The measure postpones what had been a scheduled twelvefold increase in the tax paid by employers that would have been due April 1.
At a Capitol ceremony, Crist and legislative leaders from both parties, flanked by business representatives hailing the two-year delay.
The state has already borrowed $1.2 billion from the federal government to sidestep the tax increase and keep the bankrupt unemployment compensation trust fund afloat, even as unemployment nears 12 percent.
Florida will continue to pull on average $225 million-a-month from the federal treasury to maintain the trust fund.
State officials must begin repaying hundreds of millions of dollars in interest beginning in 2011.
Business organizations, which last year agreed to the increase that is now rolled back, have said they are hoping the Obama administration will forgive unemployment debts run up by Florida and other states.
Crist shrugged off the longterm budget impact. “The important thing is what can we do for the people today,” Crist said. “We are operating in the present and we’re trying to do everything we can to help the people right now. ..a lot of people won’t be here, two years from now, myself included. But I think we will have good committed people who will take care of the issue at that time.”
Similarly, Crist said he had no commitment from business groups that they’ll not seek to again overturn the tax two years from now. “We’ll worry about that two years from now,” Crist said.
Crist visited Orlando, Tampa, Fort Myers and Miami on Wednesday.
Source: newsserviceflorida.com
