Florida Gov. Rick Scott is proposing to cut taxes on cell phone, cable and satellite services. The governor was at the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce this morning to push for the cuts.
Under the governor's plan, a family with a $125 monthly cell phone bill would save just over $50 a year in taxes. Scott says the state can afford losing $470 million in telecom tax revenue because the property and sales tax bases are growing.
"We have more people moving to the state—around 300,000 people moved here last year. We have all these people with more jobs, 728,000 jobs. Home prices are up. So now, what's happened? State revenues are up," Scott says.
Cell phone, TV and satellite taxes make up the bulk of Scott's proposed cuts, which reduce overall state revenue by $670 million. To offset them, he says he's looking for ways to increase government efficiency and lay off agency workers. Scott also wants to cut spending in areas like arts and culture. For one, he's proposing to zero out cultural and museum grants, which totaled more than $26 million this year.
