Florida is known for its huge corporate tax breaks. As best I can see they will not be affected at all in this crisis. I guess after Poppa Bush once famously said "read my lips, no new taxes"...that the state which is in reality still Jebbie's state will not give in and do away with the corporate breaks. Not even to save the state from disaster.
As state Rep. Curtis Richardson, D-Tallahassee, complained last week: "Over the past eight years we have given $18 billion in tax relief to the richest 2 percent of our population and corporate special interests. Now that the economic times have turned, we choose to place the burden on balancing the budget on those who are least able to afford it."..."The only sure winners in such public-private accommodations are the corporate owners and executives who use public dollars to offset their internal costs and artificially pad their bottom lines. Aren’t they clever?
Corporate socialism The article today from the Sentinel.
From the
Orlando SentinelConvening a special session Monday to close a $2.3 billion deficit, lawmakers prepared to make the third round of cuts in the past 15 months. Among them:
*A $490 million cut in K-12 education spending. The reduction could mean fewer elective classes, less one-on-one tutoring and even layoffs, schools officials said. A nearly $150 million cut for universities and community colleges, including $367,000 of the $9.1 million intended for the University of Central Florida's new medical school.
*Another $330 million in cuts for nursing homes and hospice, AIDS care and prevention, and hospital reimbursement rates, even though Crist had vowed to hold them "harmless." Reams of other cuts: $2 million from Space Florida, the agency intended to recruit commercial aerospace business; $7 million from the Visit Florida advertising campaign; $15 million from film incentives.
"This is a preamble of what is to come in the regular session," said Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, who chairs the Senate's transportation and economic-development budget committee.
Republican leaders flatly rejected Democratic calls to consider higher taxes, including a $1-a-pack cigarette tax worth $700 million a year.
Democrats are totally helpless to stop it because the Republicans are in total control of Florida in every single way.
The sad part is that
Florida welfare rolls are growing and food stamp requests are up over 45%Of all the regions in the state, Southwest Florida saw the biggest jump. In Charlotte County, where the unemployment rate is 10 percent, the number of people receiving food stamps grew 113 percent.
In Lee County, where the foreclosure rate is highest in the state, the number of recipients jumped 125 percent.
Even in Sarasota County, the need rose 95 percent. In Manatee County, the increase was 83 percent.
"There are people coming to us every day who have never had to ask for help before," said Dan Dunn, executive director of All Faiths Food Bank in Sarasota. "People who used to be middle class, who lost their jobs or their house, can't afford to eat."
If indeed there is any bright spot at all in this mess, the budget crunch may stop the giveaways to CSX of a great swath of Central Florida paid for with the money of the taxpayers.
Jeb's secret 2005 deal with CSX may be hurt by budget crunch.A multimillion dollar deal with CSX Transportation could face problems in the Legislature in 2009 as lawmakers try to plug a growing budget gap.
"When we're scrambling to come up with $2.3 billion in the budget, it may give people some incentive to take a second look at this deal," said state Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, an opponent of the deal during this year's legislative session.
The state proposed in 2007 to give CSX railroad about $450 million to buy tracks for a commuter system through Orlando. The deal stalled in the Legislature when lawmakers failed to approve a controversial liability agreement.
According to the plan, CSX would have leased the tracks from the state to haul freight during the off-peak commuter hours. The company wanted the state to take full responsibility for any accident involving a commuter train, even those blamed on CSX.
The Republicans in the legislature were even ready to give CSX even more of a deal by giving them immunity from liability and putting
the burden on the taxpayers.TALLAHASSEE | A deal passed Thursday by a Florida House committee would force the state to pay legal costs resulting from accidents on a proposed commuter rail line in Orlando, even if a private railroad company was at fault.
"If we want to put passengers on that line, then we have to accept responsibility," said Rep. Rich Glorioso, R-Plant City, chairman of the House Infrastructure Committee, which passed the indemnification Thursday. There are still many more stops before the plan faces final approval, with a May 4 deadline.
Under the proposal, even if CSX railroad employees or actions were totally responsible for an accident involving passengers, the state would be liable for the legal damages suffered by passengers.
The budget problems may have stopped that immunity from going through.
To reach $2.3 billion, lawmakers also will empty out cash reserves and halt school building projects intended to lower class sizes.
Florida is truly a state based on the "empty government buildings" theory of Jeb and his family.
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