Even though Florida faces a $2 billion revenue shortfall in the 2012-2013 budget, Governor Rick Scott said Monday he wants lawmakers this year to continue to reduce the corporate income tax.
Scott has pushed for eliminating the $1.9 billion a year tax over seven years, saying it will help him draw new businesses to the state, despite little evidence that cutting corporate tax rates further will do so.
He told the editorial board of the Herald-Tribune that he wants the corporate income tax reduced incrementally, not eliminated entirely in one year, reports newsserviceflorida.com.
“We can’t phase out the business tax completely until our economy gets growing faster,” Scott said.
Last session, although the state faced a budget shortfall of $4 billion, the GOP-led Legislature still managed to cut corporate taxes by $30 million, allowing Scott to claim a pyrrhic victory and meet one of his campaign pledges.
Even Senate President Mike Haridopolos (R-Merritt Island) remained skeptical that, corporate tax cuts would attract new businesses to the Sunshine State.
“I’ve had very few people in my career come to me and say the reason why they did not come to the state of Florida is because of the corporate tax rate,” Haridopolos said earlier this year.
Florida’s limited corporate taxes and no personal income tax already make the state a low tax environment. Moreover, studies have shown that tax cuts and tax breaks come at the expense of increased investments in education, health and other quality of life programs.
Scott said earlier this week, he would like Florida’s colleges to focus more on science, technology, engineering and math degrees, in order to produce a workforce that will attract businesses to do high tech work.
But, with lower revenues projected and Scott bent on cutting corporate taxes even further, the state will continue to underfund vital services like education and health care, thereby failing to draw companies and jobs Florida so desperately needs.
