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Republicans blast tax shift proposal

By Steve Bousquet and David DeCamp, Times Staff Writers
Posted: Apr 10, 2008 06:01 PM

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TALLAHASSEE — As a new statewide poll reveals lukewarm support for a major tax shift in Florida, Republican senators blasted the idea Thursday as "the bait and switch of the century" that would force them to increase taxes.

The poll and the criticism take aim at a proposal by the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission set to appear on the November ballot.

Voters would be asked to eliminate more than $8-billion a year in property taxes for schools and force the Legislature to make up the difference by increasing the sales tax 1 cent, repealing sales tax exemptions and cutting programs.

A Quinnipiac University poll found that 48 percent of voters support the idea with 41 percent opposed and 11 percent undecided. The 48 percent in favor is below the 60 percent threshold needed for passage of a constitutional amendment.

Quinnipiac surveyed 1,215 voters April 7-8, and the poll had a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.

At the Capitol, Sen. Mike Haridopolos, a Melbourne Republican who heads the Senate Finance and Taxation Committee, led the charge in attacking the proposal as "the largest tax increase in history."

Haridopolos is in line to become Senate president in 2010, and likely would be at the forefront of having to find the replacement revenue. He's among a group of Florida lawmakers who have signed a pledge not to raise taxes.

Haridopolos' math works like this: To avoid raising taxes, legislators would have to eliminate the largest sales tax exemptions other than the sacred ones for groceries, rent and prescription drugs.

The remaining exemptions include the value of trade-ins toward new car purchases, government supply purchases, the purchase of fuel by utilities and for metered water.

"You will start to tax items that are not currently taxed. By any definition, that's a tax increase," Haridopolos said. He said he has written three letters to the tax commission over the past two weeks but has received no reply.

Another Republican, Sen. Dan Webster of Winter Garden, added his opposition, and said the 48 percent approval figure in the poll was a death knell for it.

"It is just way, way too heavy to pass," Webster said.

Nearly two-thirds of voters said they knew or have heard something about the proposal being championed by John McKay, a former state Senate president from Bradenton and an appointee of Gov. Charlie Crist to the 25-member panel.

"It is correct to say this is a tax switch. It is not a bait and switch," McKay said.

McKay said the change will benefit the state because it will lower property taxes and increase the sales tax, which will "export" some of the burden to tourists and non-residents. It will also increase taxes for some industries by removing exemptions.

McKay criticized the way the Quinnipiac poll framed the question. "I was not impressed by the composition of the questions," he said. "I did not feel, from what I was read, the questions conveyed the essence of the proposal."

The pollster asked the question this way: "Do you think that this constitutional amendment to reduce property taxes and increase sales taxes is a good idea or a bad idea?"

McKay, a Republican who has pursued an overhaul of the tax system for the past eight years, downplayed the lawmakers' criticism. "I respect both of them," he said of Haridopolos and Webster. "I think the members of the commission clearly heard from Floridians that they wanted their taxes reduced, and the commission responded with this proposal."