Rick Scott to cut property taxes by 19% next year. Says it will be "fun. It's going to be exciting." [View All]

[madfloridian]

He's like a kid in a toy shop all excited at his new powers. Even Republicans are gunshy about these huge property tax cuts. It would be devastating to schools, and to communities trying to find funds to pay for fire and police services. But that is okay with him, as he wants to privatize all of it.

Scott Not Shying From Pledge to Slash Taxes


John Pemberton | The Florida Times-Union
Governor elect Rick Scott speaks to the crowd at the Jacksonville Landing on Wednesday Dec. 29, 2010 in Jacksonville, Fla. The stop was part of his statewide tour leading to his inauguration in Tallahassee, Fla.

Gov.-elect Rick Scott, who will be sworn in Tuesday, has no plans to back off his campaign pledge to cut property taxes by 19 percent in the coming year, even though the state's financial picture has worsened in the months since he first made that promise.

..."Scott, the millionaire businessman from Naples, also vowed during an interview this past week that he will try to fulfill all of his campaign promises, from selling the state plane to donating his salary of more than $130,000 per year to charity. Scott even hinted that he plans to spend two terms as governor, unlike departing Gov. Charlie Crist, who mounted an unsuccessful campaign for a U.S. Senate seat after one term.

"You think the next eight years will be boring?" Scott joked at one point. "You will have plenty to write about."

Arrogant words.

Scott, who must present his budget recommendations by Feb. 4, said he was "not scaling back" those tax-cutting plans. Scott also seems to be undeterred about dealing with Florida's budget challenges, and is also intent on pushing ahead with own proposals to change public education, insurance and state government.

"It's not daunting. It's going to be fun. It's going to be exciting," Scott said.

Yep, a little kid impressed with his new powers.

He is ready to just hand out public taxpayer money to parents to send their kids wherever.

Rick Scott's universal voucher proposal would hurt schools

It is clearer than ever that Republicans intend to mount a frontal assault next year on Florida's public schools. Legislators show no interest in building consensus on efforts to abolish teacher tenure and create a merit pay system. Gov.-elect Rick Scott also pledges to slash school property taxes even as declining property values and tax revenues have forced deep spending cuts in education. But those misguided approaches are small potatoes compared with their pursuit of a radical plan to give all students tuition vouchers.

In Scott's fuzzy vision, every parent would be given public education money to spend on "whatever education system they believe in, whether it's this public school or that public school or this private school or that private school. …'' It is not an original idea. Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman began pitching tuition vouchers for everyone more than 50 years ago. And Scott is working with the Foundation for Florida's Future that was created by former Gov. Jeb Bush — the self-anointed education czar who brought Florida tuition vouchers, school letter grades based on standardized tests and other "reforms'' that overreached and underdelivered.

Now some Republicans are referring to universal vouchers as education savings accounts.

Gee, that sounds a lot like Universal Savings Accounts for Social Security, or Health Savings Accounts.

I wonder how many who voted for him knew what he really was about. Not only does he vow to cut property taxes, he is going to make even deeper cuts in corporate taxes.

Florida is facing "a budget gap of more than $3.5 billion in the coming year. Scott vowed to cut school property taxes while maintaining school funding at its current levels by slashing spending in other parts of state government, including the state's pension plan. Scott also promised to eliminate the state's corporate taxes over a seven-year period."

Sometimes I just feel numb inside after talking to people here. Last week someone I used to teach with asked me what I thought about Rick Scott. I told them to look up Rick Scott and pensions. They voted for him, had no idea his views on education and public employee pensions.

All I can say is wait for the next hurricane or another emerging disaster...and there won't be enough workers in the public sector to respond.