The budget which included a paltry raise for teachers and generous allocations to vouchers and charters has set on DeSantis's desk for weeks with no signs of being signed.
From News4Jax.com
From News4Jax.com
Gov. Ron DeSantis said he isn’t in a rush to review the $93.2
billion budget or nearly 200 other bills recently approved by the Legislature
as he focuses on the fight against COVID-19.
DeSantis also told reporters Wednesday that the state might not
have to dip deep into its nearly $4 billion in reserves with President Donald Trump declaring
earlier in the day that a major disaster exists in Florida.
“I’m just going to let the budget sit for now. I’m not going to
start vetoing everything, and I’m not going to sign it yet,” DeSantis said.
“Let’s see where we are, and let’s kind of see how the situation unfolds. This
is a constant thing where you are reassessing everything you know.”
The truth is we know whats coming and that is revenues are going
to crater. The real question is will the state's reverse cover the shortfall
and my guess is no, which means cuts are going to be required and sadly
education is always the first to be cut.
One thing DeSantis has not backed down on was a half billion in
tax rebates for some of the wealthiest companies in Florida.
From the Suwanee Democrat,
“The
hit to the budget will just simply be an effect of what happens with the
economy,” DeSantis said. “How does this thing turn? When does it turn? So, we
are going to monitor that and see how the next few weeks turn out. Then we’ll
make a decision on that.”
The
governor did say, however, he does not plan to veto or delay the budget’s $543
million in corporate tax refunds due in six weeks, noting lawmakers committed
to issuing them by May 1 two years ago.
“The
corporate taxpayers who are entitled to receive these automatic tax refunds
under the law have anticipated these refunds and have likely made business decisions
around them,” DeSantis spokesman Ryan Ash said. “At a time when businesses are
being pinched with closures and reduced revenues, these automatic tax refunds
will inject capital back to employers when they need those dollars to continue
operations and employment.”
Lets be clear this is not money the companies expected and its a
choice that Florida has made.
From the Orlando Sentinel,
Florida is about to give more than $500 million
to some of its biggest corporations.
That’s enough to more than double
state funding for pre-kindergarten, where Florida currently ranks in the bottom
10 in the country. It’s more than the state will spend this year combating
toxic algal blooms, fighting the opioid epidemic, buying conservation land,
subsidizing adoptions and rebuilding beaches -- combined.
The mammoth tax cut is a result of an obscure law
passed by the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature last year amid lobbying
by companies such as Anheuser-Busch InBev SA, Comcast Corp. and the Walt Disney
Co.
Lawmakers said at the time that the tax cut
probably wouldn’t amount to much.
You know because those
companies really need the money.
The health care system
which has seen massive cuts, the unemployment system which a republican strategist
described as a sh*t show and the shoddy treatment of education should all show
people the GOP in Tallahassee does not have the states people's interests at heart. Cuts are going to come friends, and Florida has a history of hitting the people and institutions that can afford it the least first. Lets not let that happen again.
To read more, click the
links,
Health Care,
Unemployment,
Our own senator, Kelli Stargel, is one who said the corporate tax cuts "wouldn't amount to much."
ReplyDeleteThat does not pass common sense. When did Disney (owner of ABC, ESPN and other tv networks) lobby for a tax cut that didn't amount to a lot?
When will people realize the tax burden, both with the states, red ones anyway, and the federal government, when republicans run it, is slowly and methodically being transferred in it's almost entirety to people.
ReplyDelete