Jeb Bush was not a fiscal conservative as governor

As former Gov. Jeb Bush prepares to formally announce today that he is running for president, it is ironic that his social conservative pedigree is under attack while his fiscal credentials seem above reproach. Those of us who served in Tallahassee while he was governor know that while he was a severe social conservative, his record on fiscal matters does not mesh with the tax-cutting, government-shrinking fiscal conservative storyline so many of his supporters advance.

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But on fiscal issues his record is less clear. While it is true Bush cut billions in taxes for some of our residents and corporations, it is equally true he shifted billions of dollars more in property taxes onto our middle class in order to fill the budget holes those tax breaks created. And while it is true Florida grew larger budget reserves under Bush, it is also true at the same time he nearly doubled our state debt to then-unprecedented levels.

First, the tax breaks.

Bush routinely points to the billions in tax cuts he generated during his years in office. But only a fraction of his cuts went to middle- and working-class Floridians. The overwhelming beneficiaries were our wealthiest residents and corporations. The tax breaks directed at the middle class — the sales tax holidays and similar tax breaks — were a very small portion of Bush's tax cuts.