The Sales Tax Increase

The St. Petersburg Times reports a Quinnipiac University poll shows only 48 percent of Floridians support a one cent sales tax increase meant to offset $8-billion cut from property taxes. The idea has come under criticism for money that will be lost from education funding. Under problem is that sales taxes are not a stable tax base. If people are making less money they will purchase less things. Florida has always had this problem with it's current tax system.

The sales tax loopholes is a matter the Republican legislature refuses to address. Corporations can avoid paying state taxes on property sales by filing as a corporate sale.

Phillips Point in West Palm Beach, PGA National Resort & Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Fort Lauderdale's Las Olas Centre — all are officially recorded as selling for $10 in recent months.

In truth, these trophy properties fetched $200 million, $170 million and $230.9 million, respectively.

So why the tiny sale prices in public records? Taxes.

Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio has long been pushing for the sales tax increase to lower property taxes. Hysterically, Republicans in the Florida Senate are against the idea because they fear they would have to eliminate corporate sales tax loopholes in order to make up for loss revenue.

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.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry at Rubio's and Haridopolos's economic stupidity.

In other news: the legislature is making drastic cuts to the Department of Children & Families.

But Thursday, in his latest role as Secretary of the Department of Children & Families, Butterworth met his match: an intransigent Legislature that is pursuing what he called the equivalent of taking out a ''contract on kids,'' with a budget that ''destroys'' the public safety net by cutting programs deeply rather than tapping the state's $1.3 billion emergency fund, or close corporate-tax loopholes.

''In my 40 years in public service, this is the worst year I've ever seen, the meanest I've ever seen,'' Butterworth told The Miami Herald as the House was completing debate on its $65 billion budget proposal.

Sacrifices must be made to keep football stadium skyboxes tax exempt.