By all accounts–not just those emanating from the Bay Area–incoming Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford is a welcome break from brazenly partisan, ideological business as usual. He’s known as even-handed, savvy and approachable and is liked on both sides of the aisle. He even earned plaudits for his work in the otherwise thankless role of House redistricting chairman. It spoke volumes that the Florida Supreme Court found no problem with the House map, but ruled against the Senate version.
Moreover, he stood up for USF during its budgetary put-down crucible and even managed to steer nearly $7 million to USF to help establish a heart institute. No one expects Weatherford, still only 32, to peak politically with the House Speakership.
But on one issue he still can sound doctrinaire.
While Weatherford has publicly stated that he will “very seriously” look at a sales tax on Internet purchases next year, he has a big qualifier. He’s not out to add net revenue for the state, even though budget-deficit projections have now become Tallahassee staples.
“If we’re able to get more revenue from something like an online sales tax,” he has stated, “what we should do is pay off other taxes that are hurting businesses and making it harder to create jobs in our state. I’m not interested in doing that to grow government. I’m not interested in doing that to create more revenue streams for the state.”
Alas, Gov. Rick Scott could have said that, even though jobs-related, infrastructure improvements–from transportation to higher education–need more attention than business-related taxes that are already among the lowest in the country. Bringing the tax code into alignment with the 21st century is a necessary end in itself–not some strategic, tax-policy trade-off.