Florida Governor Rick Scott Would Cut Teachers’ Pay To Fund Tax Breaks For Corporations And The Wealthy

New Florida Governor Rick Scott seems to be looking to give Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker a run for his money. Think Progress sums up his proposals.

In terms of taxes, Scott plans to “cut $1 billion in property taxes over two years and nearly $1.5 billion in corporate income taxes in the same time frame,” which would involve cutting the corporate income tax rate from 5.5 percent to 3 percent and phasing it out by 2018, among other things.

Of course, these tax breaks are not cheap and Florida is required to balance its budget. So in addition to slashing billions of dollars in Medicaid assistance to the poor, gutting the budget of the Department of Children and Families, and cutting the education budget by $4.8 billion over several years, Scott’s proposal would mean an average annual pay cut for Floridan teachers of $2,335…

Dara Kam at the Palm Beach Post wonders if cutting pay by $2335 for each teacher is worth a $44.72 saving for the average Florida homeowner.  And Scott, like every other candidate, campaigned as supporting education.

“Every candidate who ran in this last election ran on a campaign saying, ‘I support education,’ ” said Palm Beach County schools lobbyist Vern Pickup-Crawford. “Nobody ran on a campaign saying, ‘Elect me. I’m going to cut schools 10 percent.’ Including the governor.”

Middle school civics teacher Mike Dowling wants to know, “When did teachers become the enemy? We are the people that you trust your children’s future to. Society trusts me with their most precious resource, their children. And I’m wondering what we value.”

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.