Fla. Pitches Mass. Businesses After Tax Hikes
In the wake of taxes rising in Massachusetts on gasoline and software services, Florida Gov. Rick Scott this week wrote a letter to Bay State business leaders urging them to book a one-way trip to the Sunshine State.
“Summer is here and millions of people are booking their trips to Florida. This year, we’re asking you to make that plane reservation a ‘one way,’” Scott wrote.
The Republican governor touted how over the past four years the unemployment rate in Florida has dropped 4 points to 7.1 percent, while the Massachusetts rate climbed to 7 percent in June. Scott said Florida has also reduced its debt by $3 billion, and ranks fifth in the country for its positive business climate compared to Massachusetts’ No. 22 ranking, according to the Tax Foundation.
“It’s bound to get worse in Massachusetts, as just last week we saw them raise taxes on gasoline and even computer services,” Scott wrote, encouraging business leaders to visit Tallahassee and set up a meeting with his office. The gas tax in Massachusetts rose 3 cents per gallon last week as part of the Legislature’s plan to generate new revenue for transportation, and the state’s 6.25-percent sales tax is now being applied to software and computer design services in an attempt to generate $161 million in new revenue.
Republican lawmakers, activists and business groups this week took the first step toward putting a petition on the 2014 ballot to repeal the software tax and decouple the gas tax from automatic inflation-based increases. Scott has written similar open letters to business owners in Colorado, Minnesota, Illinois, California, Connecticut, New York and Maryland.
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