Starving the poor, fattening the rich
By
Alvaro F. Fernandez
Bottled
water is expensive — $2 or more for one small bottle at almost any
public event. Coca Cola’s Dasani water, Evian, and so many others
make large profits from the sale of this water.
I
pay 7 percent sales tax every time I shop. In other words, for every
$100 I spend seven goes to the state of Florida. I have no problem
with that. Sales tax revenues are the major source of funding for
necessary 
services Florida offers its residents. My ire is raised,
though, every time I hear, or read, that Dasani, for example, is
exempted from paying sales taxes in Florida. The Florida Tax Handbook
reveals, in fact, that the state loses more than $42 million a year
in sales tax revenues (not collected) from bottled water companies.
How
many poor folk you know own race horses and ostriches? Well, that
same Florida Tax Handbook informs me that the feed used to grow these
horses and ostriches — along with poultry and livestock — is also
exempted from the sales tax.
Al’s
Loupe Read Spanish Version
Starving
the poor, fattening the rich
By
Alvaro F. Fernandez
alfernandez@the-beach.net
Bottled
water is expensive — $2 or more for one small bottle at almost any
public event. Coca Cola’s Dasani water, Evian, and so many others
make large profits from the sale of this water.
I
pay 7 percent sales tax every time I shop. In other words, for every
$100 I spend seven goes to the state of Florida. I have no problem
with that. Sales tax revenues are the major source of funding for
necessary services Florida offers its residents. My ire is raised,
though, every time I hear, or read, that Dasani, for example, is
exempted from paying sales taxes in Florida. The Florida Tax Handbook
reveals, in fact, that the state loses more than $42 million a year
in sales tax revenues (not collected) from bottled water companies.
How
many poor folk you know own race horses and ostriches? Well, that
same Florida Tax Handbook informs me that the feed used to grow these
horses and ostriches — along with poultry and livestock — is also
exempted from the sales tax. Cost to the taxpayer who shells out 7
cents for every dollar spent: almost $28 million in lost sales tax
revenue.
You
know the inserts we get daily inside The Miami Herald and other
newspapers around the state — advertising Macy’s sales, CVS
products, movies and everything else under the sun. These inserts are
also exempt from the sales tax. I fished for Tax Handbook and
checked: these inserts cost us (the Florida sales tax payer) more
than $41 million a year in sales tax revenue — again, not
collected.
There’s
so much more on this list. For example, the fortunate few who shell
out tens of thousands of dollars to purchase luxury skyboxes at
sports stadiums around the state — they don’t have to pay sales
tax for their indulgence. There are more than 200 businesses in
Florida exempt from paying the sales tax. As I wrote last week, more
sales tax revenue is exempted in Florida than collected. And other
than the worthy exemptions on groceries and prescription drugs, I
often ask: why?
Crist
vs. Rubio
Florida
Governor Charlie Crist recently decided (on his own and apparently in
secret) to grant the Seminole tribe in Florida the right to expand
their gambling operation on Indian reservation lands. Our
easy-to-smile new governor is worried that Florida this year may run
more than a billion dollars short in revenues needed to carry out the
business of the state. His deal with the Seminole guarantees $100
million a year to the state for 25 years. “Not a bad deal,” say
some.
Reacting
to what he said was “usurping” of the Florida Legislature’s
power, Speaker of the House Marco Rubio sued Crist over what he
describes as an illegal deal. Chances are Rubio will probably win in
court. As The Miami Herald reported, “At least five other states
have filed similar lawsuits against governors that entered into
compacts with Indian tribes without legislative approval. In every
case, the legislatures prevailed…”
In
the end, I agree with Rubio’s move. But I am totally against what
each politician is trying to do.
On
the one hand, Governor Crist joins a long line of Florida politicians
who refuse to heed what voters in this state want. Since I can
remember — and I’ve been here since 1960 — Florida voters have
always voted against Las Vegas-style gambling. It may be the reason
the governor decided to work out this deal with the Seminoles behind
closed doors and with the knowledge of a very few. The guy’s
shifty. And this case may be our first real impression of Crist and
how he likes to operate — hidden in a dark closet.
At
the other extreme is Rubio. His move to stop the governor is the
right one. His intentions are all wrong.
‘Starving
the beast’
The
young Speaker comes from the school of Jeb Bush politics. He is a
hard-line conservative, as he demonstrated with his failed move to do
away with property taxes while offering to raise the sales tax on
Floridians to offset the losses. His budgeting philosophy has been
scarily described as one to “starve the beast.” His style smacks
of the type of political maneuvering carried out successfully by
former Governor Bush. But Jeb’s eight years were not enough to get
everything he wanted done.
Simply
stated, by “starving the beast” you bring state services to their
knees. In other words, without the money to feed programs, how can
you carry them out? At that point one turns to the private sector to
deal with the problem — in education, public roads, prisons, etc.
There’s a whole lot of money to be made in public services turned
private, I’ve been told.
Neither
politician has the best interest of Florida residents in mind. Both
approaches, though, are after one thing: the almighty dollar at the
expense of those who can least afford to pay for necessary services
and programs. And other than some media and a group headed by former
Senate President John McKay, nobody has even come close to mentioning
the tax exemptions — which mostly favor the rich and special
interests.
If
it’s $100 million a year the governor really needs — the reason he
gave for the secret deal with the Seminole tribe — all he had to do
was look at three of the 200 exemptions I mentioned which amount to
about $111 million a year in possible sales tax revenue we are
turning away.
