In Florida it is school kids verses sick kids

From the Orlando Sentinel

by Dick Batchelor

With the Florida Legislature convening this week, one of the top issues is a projected budget shortfall of more than $2 billion. Without new revenues, this is a two-year combined budget shortfall of approximately $5 billion. Instead of offering leadership, the governor’s budget proposal offers Hobson’s choices, pitting school children against children on Medicaid.

Last year the Legislature reduced per-student funding for K-12 students by more than $500 per student. The governor says that public education from kindergarten through 12th grade is his top priority, and is proposing a billion-dollar increase, which is a fraction of the money that was cut from K-12 education last year. What makes this a Hobson’s choice is that the governor proposes taking the money from Medicaid, a program that provides health care for the poor, of which the majority of recipients are children. In addition, he is proposing to cut several million dollars out of children’s mental health services, along with other social safety-net programs.

There are other choices. In fact, a number of business groups have endorsed a sales tax on Web-based sales transactions, which means that online retailers such as Amazon.com would be on equal footing with Florida retailers. And a tax on Web-based sales transactions would generate approximately $2 billion. At first the governor resisted such a proposal, even with business community support. He then went on to say that he could support such revenue if it was net-revenue neutral, which means the new sales tax it generated from Web-based sales transactions would be used to “buy down” other taxes, such as corporate income taxes.

With the $5 billion aggregate shortfall over the last two years, the budget cutting in health and human services has gone beyond the fat, the muscle, the meat, the bone and now would cut into the marrow. The Legislature needs to back off of the governor’s mantra and find political support and leadership for the one tax initiative that is equitable, that is, imposing the sales tax on Web- based transactions that are collected on (Internet) transactions, just as small businesses collect sales taxes on their transactions throughout the state of Florida. That would make monies available so that the Legislature would not have to cut programs from the medically needy, i.e. organ transplants, children’s mental health, child abuse investigations, health care coverage for poor or sick children.

It is always easy to lead when there is a surplus of monies; however the real test of leadership is when there is a shortfall but an ever growing demand for services. This is the time not for Hobson’s choices, but the choice of leadership.

Dick Batchelor is a former member of the Florida House of Representatives. Dick Batchelor Management Group Inc. is a renowned consulting firm specializing in business development consulting, strategic governmental affairs and public policy issues.

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