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<i><b>Bousquet</b></i>: Gov. Rick Scott's tax attack on Charlie Crist skirts truth

 
Published Sept. 29, 2014

As they prepare for the first of three TV debates, Gov. Rick Scott and former Gov. Charlie Crist are fine-tuning their talking points for viewers who are just starting to pay attention to the biggest race for governor in the country.

Scott is sure to remind TV viewers that when Florida was in the depths of a recession in 2009, Crist raised taxes and fees by $2.2 billion.

That's true. But it's not the whole truth.

It's an example of how Scott rewrites history to suit his political ends (and he's hardly the first politician to do that).

What Scott leaves out is that virtually every Republican in the Legislature voted to raise those taxes and fees, including his lieutenant governor, Carlos Lopez-Cantera; his former lieutenant governor Jennifer Carroll; and the most influential GOP legislators in both chambers.

Crist, who has since become a Democrat, didn't do it alone. Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater, who was president of the Senate, voted for those higher fees. So did Rep. Will Weatherford, the outgoing House speaker, and Rep. Jimmy Patronis, a termed-out member recently chosen by Scott to serve on the Public Service Commission.

The list goes on and on. The architects of those tax and fee hikes in 2009 included some of Scott's biggest supporters.

Not only that, but some of them defend the decision to this day, calling it difficult, unavoidable and the right thing to do.

Senate President Don Gaetz recalls that 2009 vote this way:

"I voted for them. It was the right vote," Gaetz said. "It was the right vote. I mean, we were trying to keep the lights on in the Capitol, and keep the lights on, more importantly, in schools. I mean, schools were taking huge cuts at that time . . . It was a tough vote. None of us liked it. It was the least worst alternative at the time."

Florida faced a $6 billion shortfall that year. The state plugged about half of it with federal economic stimulus funds, leaving a $3 billion hole.

Refusing to undertake a long-overdue review of sales tax loopholes that benefit corporations, lawmakers took the easy way out. They passed a $1-per-pack increase in the cigarette tax, which hadn't been raised in decades, and steep increases in car and truck registration fees.

Scott's $25 rollback of the tag fees is a central theme of his campaign for re-election.

The other day, reporters asked Scott if his lieutenant governor should also bear some responsibility for higher taxes and fees on Floridians, since they never would have reached Crist's desk if the Legislature hadn't passed them.

True to form, Scott's reply was off the subject.

"It takes leadership to decide the direction of the state. Charlie promised to cut taxes and he didn't. He raised taxes $2 billion," he said. "Taxes shouldn't have been raised."

Crist could have vetoed the package. That would have saved him from violating a ridiculous no-new-taxes pledge that he should never have made, but it would have put the state in a deeper hole.

Scott presumably would have vetoed those taxes and fees that were the work of his fellow Republicans.

But in the words of Gaetz, it would have been lights out for Florida's public schools.

Contact Steve Bousquet at bousquet@tampabay.com or (850) 224-7263.