Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Florida governor’s budget boosts cash for corporate welfare
If Gov. Rick Scott has his way, Floridians will be paying a little more for their government this year.
Just over $4.2 billion more, to be exact.
That’s the final figure from his recommended budget released last week and totaling $74.2 billion, the largest in Florida history.
The budget was granted its very own domain name: FloridaFamiliesFirst.com.
Within the 352-page proposal are large increases for education, transportation, healthcare mandates and tax incentives and subsidies for private industry.
The $1.7 billion increase in education spending has dominated the limelight so far, garnering praise for the individual raises of $2,500 for every teacher in the state. This move has quieted Scott’s most vicious critics, who have painted him as a budget-slicing Tea Partier.
Among the largest individual increases, however, is a $256 million boost to the Department of Economic Opportunity for tax incentives and breaks to industries that meet goals for creating jobs.
These funds would be managed by the department and its partner Enterprise Florida, the public-private partnership agency that allocates state funds for projects throughout the state.
Scott’s budget proposal coincides with a damning report released Tuesday by Integrity Florida, an independent ethics watchdog group based in Tallahassee, which reveals apparent conflicts of interest at Enterprise Florida, as well as millions of dollars in wasted investments and less than impressive job creation numbers.
Full article: http://watchdog.org/ … 14-election-florida/
|
|
Tweet |
|
|