Attendance Thursday at the annual Associated Industries of Florida (AIF) meeting in Palm Beach should be mandatory for politicians.
Those attending will hear a presentation on economic development and tax incentives from somebody who knows more than a little about those subjects.
Donna Arduin is the former budget guru for Gov. Jeb Bush and was the go-to girl for several governors in other states. She even managed to steer California on a sound fiscal path -- but, of course, as soon as she left, they returned to their profligate ways.
My favorite Arduin story concerns a meeting where folks were looking for ways to keep spending under control. As I heard it, Arduin discovered a program that had a lot of money allocated, but little was being spent, so she suggested trimming it a bit. There was a stunned silence. The program was for blind children. The others accurately perceived that liberal brains would explode over the idea even though it made perfect sense to cut money that wasn't helping anyone, and it remained intact.
These days Arduin is in business with Arthur Laffer and Stephen Moore.
Moore is a well-known economist and a member of the Wall Street Journal editorial page staff. The famed Laffer curve, which demonstrates that lower income taxes can increase revenue, was named for Laffer, who made it popular. It was instrumental in the formulation of supply-side economics.
But Laffer, Moore and Arduin aren't immersed in theory. Instead they look at what works.
Arduin, who has been a consultant to Gov. Rick Scott, probably will explain how spending restraint combined with laws and regulations that don't punish business are helping to spur growth and prosperity, as they normally do.
Florida has no income tax (which annoys liberals no end). It also has been reducing the corporate tax burden, which actually is a burden on corporate customers and employees because businesses don't pay taxes.
But whatever money is available will either be spent by government or by the private sector. One creates jobs and wealth, the other consumes wealth.
Florida has added nearly 370,000 jobs under Scott. Meanwhile, the generally pro-growth Legislature has been able to keep the state in sound fiscal condition, especially when compared to states that are anti-growth, anti-business, pro-tax and pro-regulation.
Florida also has slashed corporate taxes, while the United States has the highest federal corporate income tax rate among developed nations.
As Scott said recently, High taxes hurt job creation, plain and simple. If the president wants to turn around our national economy as we have turned around the economy in Florida, he should followFloridas lead and cut the federal corporate income tax so more manufacturers and businesses can invest and create jobs.
Writing an editorial that one liberal newspaper credited with stopping the passage of the largest tax increase in state history was a highlight of my career, and in my view the state is the better for continuing to show consideration for Florida families in times made difficult by greedy, vote-buying politicians.
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 speech writer for Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
