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Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Governor Scott Wants to Cut Taxes and Reduce Regulations for Small Businesses in Florida

In his State of the Union speech today, Florida Governor Rick Scott reviewed the successes of his policies and what he will focus on in the coming year. Florida’s economic situation was pretty dire when Scott took office, but things are improving. Scott reported that Florida’s private sector created 135,000 jobs in the first 11 months of 2011. In addition, people continue to move to Florida.

Florida’s population growth is exploding – in fact, with more than a quarter million people moving to the Sunshine State over a 15-month period, Florida is the third fastest growing state.

Scott noted that in two years Florida will pass the state of New York in population.
In his speech Scott said: “To all our friends in New York, come on down!” He noted that the tax burden per citizen in New York is about twice as high as Florida’s.

“Think about it. The state of New York, which has just about the same population as Florida, has a budget roughly twice as large as ours,” Scott said.

That is why Florida ranks favorably (#8) while New York ranks miserably (#50) on SBE Council’s “Small Business Survival Index.” Bigger government means higher taxes and more burdens on small business owners and entrepreneurs.

Yet, Scott wants to make Florida even more attractive and friendly for small businesses. “This session, we need to lower burdensome taxes on small businesses and continue our mission of slashing red tape in Florida,” he remarked.

Florida ranks very high on SBE Council’s “Business Tax Index” as well, coming in at #6. New York ranks an abysmal 48th.

You can read highlights of Governor Scott’s speech by visiting this link. The Governor also lays out his vision for improving Florida’s education system and keeping Florida’s cost-of-living low.

Karen Kerrigan, President & CEO

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