When the liberal media is berating the conservative government in Florida – which is pretty much every day – it often borders on the ridiculous as they strain for a point.
The latest example is a Tampa Tribune news story also printed in the Orlando Sentinel about a study purporting to show that Florida has one of the least fair tax systems in the nation.
Why? Because it has no income tax.
Liberals love the income tax and for decades have yearned to implement one in Florida. The people want none of it, which is a great source of angst from those who know better than you what is good for you.
WalletHub surveyed more than 1,000 Americans on what they consider a fair state and local tax system, then used data from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy and compared the real state and local tax burden of households to what Americans think is fair at various income levels, the story says.
The writer claimed that “some economists” say tax cuts and tax incentives aren’t the best tools for job and economic growth.
Gov. Rick Scott thinks otherwise – or, as the writer whined, “The experts haven’t convinced Scott of that.”
(We know how concerned liberals are about economic growth. They have been running the federal government for nine years. We are mired in debt, growth is anemic, inequality has increased and the middle class is taking a beating. They blame Republicans.)
The gist of the story is that because the sales tax is regressive and there is no income tax, Florida is terribly unfair to the poor.
One could almost make that argument if not for one pertinent fact: Tourists pay about 20 percent of the sales tax in Florida.
Do you feel sorry for the folks who leave their Park Avenue penthouses to come to Florida and enjoy the sunshine? They are soaked not only by sunshine but by the taxes heaped on them by the tax collectors in South Florida – on top of the sales tax. Where is the compassion in South Florida?
Guess who is “harsher” to the poor than Florida? Washington, Hawaii, and Illinois, according to the study. Aren't these all states run by left-wing politicians?
Actually, the story “buried the lead,” as they say in the newspaper business.
In the very last paragraph, the story said, “On the good news side, Florida was not included on the list of states where the middle class was considered overtaxed.”
In other words, the good news was the last thing they wanted to mention. Yet, it concerned the middle class, about which liberals claim to be greatly concerned.
What the story didn't tell the readers is that when it comes to growth, states with an income tax always lag behind states that don't have one.
But the story didn't fool all the readers. In the comments section, “Whatmeworry1” nailed it: “So the Slant is saying, Fl does not loot enough from the earners to redistribute to the moochers. Move to Chicago, SF or NYC.”
Lloyd Brown was in the newspaper business nearly 50 years, beginning as a copy boy and retiring as editorial page editor of the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville. After retirement he served as a policy analyst for Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
