On Wednesday, speaking at the 2015 AP Legislative Planning Session, Gov. Rick Scott vowed to make 2016 the “year of the manufacturer” in Florida.
Looking back at the economic gains made over the last five years, Scott insisted “we have to cut taxes to keep growing” and that would be at the top of his legislative list for 2016. Scott called for lower taxes, hoping to exceed the amount of tax cuts from last year, and showcased his support for permanently ending the manufacturing sales tax.
“We will propose the total repeal of the state business tax on every manufacturer in Florida,” Scott said. “This tax cut would be on top of our push to forever end the manufacturing sales tax. If the manufacturing sales tax isn’t repealed this year, there will effectively be a tax increase on manufacturers in our state who are planning to buy multimillion-dollar pieces of equipment. Taxing this equipment will kill jobs. It is that simple.
"Helping our manufacturing industry succeed is a key way to diversify our economy,” Scott added. “Five years ago, our state was in a jobs death spiral. Our economy was in a steep decline and a lot of people talked about how we needed to grow more stable industries to recover. Now it’s time for action. Manufacturing is one of those high-growth industries that are critical to long-term job creation. The more we can cut costs for manufacturers in Florida, the more manufacturing jobs will be created here. It is really that simple. If you don’t want something to grow, tax it. If we want something to grow, we have to cut costs.”
Scott sounded an upbeat note about being able to work with the Legislature even as the House and the Senate, both under Republican control, have been at odds this year.
“I am very proud of the work the Legislature and my office have done together to turn Florida’s economy around,” Scott said. “I am very excited to have heard from President Gardiner and Speaker Crisafulli both of whom share my goal to cut taxes again in the upcoming session. Working together, I know we can give Floridians back more of the hard-earned money they have made by turning our economy around and ensure that Florida continues to outpace the nation and even take first place in job creation.”
Scott also called for reforming Enterprise Florida to ensure it would be more competitive in luring companies to relocate to the Sunshine State.
“We must reform our competitive jobs program," Scott said. “We will focus on ... making major reforms to our competitive jobs program. The Quick Action Closing Fund that EFI uses to attract competitive projects to Florida over other states is almost bankrupt. It was given very little funding during the last legislative session and now there is virtually very little money left for Florida counties to use when competing against other places in the country for big job wins.
“The current Quick Action Closing fund needs to be reformed, plain and simple,” Scott continued. “Florida cannot compete with Texas for major headquarters projects if we are running out of cash before the end of every year, or if projects are totally dependent on the scheduling of special committee meetings.”
The governor said he had received input from legislators and business groups on reforming Enterprise Florida and insisted these changes were needed.
“Florida should be the next state where all the corporate offices move to,” Scott said. “We’ve got to have a major revision of economic incentives.”
Scott said he was “very optimistic” that the Legislature would back the reforms.
Asked if he would back a revenue-neutral plan to raise sales tax while lowering property taxes, Scott was noncommittal.
“I’ve not seen the proposal,” Scott said of the measure which is getting some attention in a House committee. “What I want to do is focus on how to reduce taxes.”
The governor also highlighted how colleges across the state continue to offer four-year degrees costing less than $10,000 and praised Daytona State College for cutting tuition.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
