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House Speaker Richard Corcoran on tax increase for schools: 'Hell no'

 
Published Feb. 22, 2017

House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land O'Lakes, has two simple words for Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Senate on taxes and spending: "Hell, no."

Corcoran says he won't compromise on the question of whether the Legislature should write a budget that includes nearly $500 million more in local property taxes from Florida homeowners to hit Scott's target of a K-12 spending increase, under a program known as required local effort. Scott and Senate President Joe Negron, R-Stuart, don't consider that a tax increase because the property tax rate would stay the same. The extra money would come from rising property values paid by homeowners and businesses.

Corcoran pointed out in an interview that on the same issue last year, Scott and senators both took the opposite position and took credit for a tax cut by rolling back the required local effort millage rate so that the amount of tax revenue collected for schools did not increase (state tax revenue made up the difference, and if that's the case again this year, Scott can kiss his proposed package of $618 million goodbye).

Politifact covered this ground in detail, and included the chart released by Scott's office in which he included $428 million in "property tax reduction."

"The governor has in his budget a $450-plus million property tax increase," Corcoran told the Times/Herald. "That's a hell no. That's a hell no. We're not raising property taxes to fund government waste. We're not raising taxes on property owners to give it to business owners. It's a non-starter. It's nonsensical."