TALLAHASSEE -- As Florida lawmakers inch closer to the conclusion that the only way out of this year's fiscal crisis is to raise new revenues, their polls show that many of their constituents aren't ready to support more taxes or fees.

So how do you get a Republican-led Legislature to embrace ideas such as eliminating sales tax exemptions, raising tobacco taxes and imposing new fees? You offer some sweeteners -- a bevy of bills to streamline regulations, dismantle or merge agencies, and send the politically appealing message that they're serious about scaling back government.

Many of these proposals emerged in previous years but are on the fast track this year because the financial crunch offers ''opportunity in a crisis,'' said Sen. Mike Bennett, a Bradenton Republican, who has sponsored several growth management and environmental regulation streamlining bills.

He calls such proposals crucial cogs in the process of giving legislators the courage to cast tough votes.

'It's essential because we've got to find a way that people politically can say, `you know what? I'll take the heat back home in my next campaign for doing this,' '' said Bennett.

He is also supporting the $1 a pack increase on tobacco products to offset the cost of treating sick smokers on Medicaid, but he realizes it could make him vulnerable if he were to run again in a Republican primary.

'I can see the flier: `He voted to raise your taxes $700 million,' '' Bennett said. ``They don't say cigarette tax. They don't say it's going to health care. So, until you find yourself in a desperate situation, people are not going to have that political courage. For me, it's the right thing to do.''

Sen. Don Gaetz also sees the need for trade offs to deliver votes. He heads the Senate committee charged with recommending ways to stimulate Florida's economy and has concluded that the answer to the budget crisis is a bi-partisan embrace of both new taxes and spending cuts and an array of new tax incentives designed to reward businesses that bring new jobs to Florida.

''Both liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans have to be able to take from the deal a story that makes sense to their base,'' said Gaetz, a Niceville Republican.

He said his committee will soon unveil a proposal that tells Floridians ``if you make the investment and you create a business or expand a business, if you add jobs and the cash register rings, then we'll provide you with a tax break or a tax rebate -- after you've created the economic development.''

But building political cover is only part of the equation this session. Facing the numbers is the other.

Senate Budget Chairman J.D. Alexander told the Senate Ways and Means Committee meeting Tuesday that as the state's grim revenue forecast comes more clearly into focus, ``we'll ultimately have to have a mix of revenues and some reductions.''

''We're planning on using all the [federal] stimulus dollars that we can use,'' he said. ``That brings us to just over a $3 billion projected shortfall between our revenues and our must-fund expenditure levels. And, by the way, those don't have any fluff in those must-fund levels.''

If the state were to accept Gov. Charlie Crist's budget, which includes the Seminole gaming compact and nearly $500 million in new fees, he said, the deficit would still hover around $2.5 million. That would force a 17 percent reduction in every agency, he said.

Join the discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.repliedToText@

@Nyx.replyAnswerText@

Reply to this Comment @Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@