No Tax Cuts in Budget Deal, But Gov. Scott Still Confident

Legislative leaders have not included property cuts and business income tax cuts asserted by Gov. Rick Scott as essential to jump-starting Florida's economy as part of their budget allocation deal, but Scott remains certain they will be included in the final budget.

"I'm confident with the House and Senate that we have that we'll get tax reductions, because everybody understands this is about jobs, it's about putting our state back to work. Part of putting our state back to work is making sure we reduce the size of government, the cost of government, and put money back in taxpayers' hands, that's what's going to create private-sector jobs."

Still, the cuts are not part of the agreement over budget allocations reached earlier Tuesday by House Speaker Dean Cannon and Senate President Mike Haridopolos. A bill that would include a reduction of the business income tax was heard in a Senate committee Monday, but was later postponed. With less than two weeks left in the regular legislative session, and the House and Senate moving toward resolving most of their differences after awkward early budget negotiations, it is looking less and less likely that those cuts will make it into the budget.

"There's some continuing discussions of (the tax cuts), but I would tell you it's not a significant priority for us," said Sen. J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales, the Senate's chief budget negotiator, who criticized Cannon's budget tactics Monday, before the budget deal was announced Tuesday.