2010 Florida Senate debates: on Tax Reform

Charlie Crist: Best to extend all tax cuts; but compromise and push later

Obama favors extending the Bush tax cuts only for households earning less than $250,000, about 98% of all taxpayers. Rubio argued, "There's a difference between compromise and cutting a deal," Rubio said. "Compromise is a good thing. Cutting deals in Washington, there's too much of that."

Meek defended Obama's economic strategy. "There were surpluses," he said. "There are no longer surpluses. So we're digging a deeper hole. And what Rubio and also Crist are representing, let's continue to dig, and trickle-down economics will work for the middle class in creating jobs."

Crist, running as an independent, straddled the positions of his rivals, supporting a compromise on the tax cuts. "I want all the tax cuts extended, but sometimes you've got to give relief to the people and they deserve it now," Crist said. "If there's a way to go ahead and do that in the short term and then after January to push for the other tax cuts, that's what I think the real solution is."

Source: Business Week coverage of 2010 Florida Senate debate Oct 25, 2010

Kendrick Meek: Bush tax cuts killed surpluses; no more trickle-down

Rubio ruled out any compromise that doesn't extend all the Bush-era tax cuts enacted in 2001 & 2003, which are due to expire on Dec. 31. Obama favors extending the tax cuts only for households earning less than $250,000, about 98% of all taxpayers. Rubio argued that anything short of extending them for all Americans, poor & wealthy alike, would amount to a tax increase at a particularly vulnerable time.

Meek defended Obama's economic strategy, including the stimulus of 2009, as "dealing with the cards we were dealt" by the previous administration and the economic crisis that reached its peak in the fall of 2008. He said the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 were designed to be temporary and shouldn't be extended for the most-well-off Americans. "There were surpluses," he said. "There are no longer surpluses. So we're digging a deeper hole. And what Rubio and also Crist are representing, let's continue to dig, and trickle-down economics will work for the middle class in creating jobs."

Source: Business Week coverage of 2010 Florida Senate debate Oct 25, 2010

Marco Rubio: No one should pay higher taxes in recession, not even top 2%

The tax-cut issue, revolving around whether to extend Bush-era tax cuts scheduled to expire at the end of 2010, demonstrated the different stances of each candidate. Pres. Obama calls for extending the tax cuts to everyone making up to $200,000 a year, or $250,000 for families, which is 98% of the population. The rates on income above those figures would return to higher levels of the 1990s under the Obama plan.

Rubio insisted all the tax cuts should be extended, saying no one in America should pay higher taxes at a time of high unemployment and sluggish economic growth. "It's a bad time to raise taxes on anybody," Rubio said. "The only way to improve the economy is by growing the economy and fiscal constraint, and you have to do both."

Crist said that position showed Rubio's inability to break from rigid ideology. While Crist advocated a compromise, Meek backed the Obama position.

Source: CNN ElectionCenter coverage of 2010 Florida Senate debate Oct 24, 2010

Marco Rubio: Extend Bush tax cuts, even for high earners

There were obvious differences between Meek and Rubio. Meek supported the economic stimulus package and said it kept the country from going into a depression; Rubio said it was a failure. Meek said he would vote for the health care overhaul again and Rubio said it should be repealed. Meek wants to continue President George W. Bush's tax cuts for all except those who make more than $250,000, Rubio wants them extended for all earners.

"You think government creates jobs," Rubio said to Meek, cutting him off.

"No, I don't," Meek said.

"You do," Rubio said.

"I think tax cuts for small businesses create jobs and incentives for local communities to move forward," Meek said.

Crist added, "What you just witnessed is the problem and the reason I'm running as an independent. These two guys are going at each other because one's the Republican right, one's the Democratic left. What's true is there are good things that both parties can present to the future of our country."

Source: Associated Press coverage of 2010 Florida Senate Debate Oct 6, 2010

Jeff Greene: Repeal Bush tax cuts, exempting small business

The candidates sparred over the tax cuts backed by President George W. Bush in 2001 and 2003. While both candidates said they support the repeal of those tax cuts, Greene said he will exempt small businesses. Source: 2010 Florida Dem. Primary Debate, in Sunshine State News Aug 11, 2010

Charlie Crist: Extend the $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers

Crist said extending the $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers would help boost home sales in Florida. "I think any time you can reduce taxation in order to spur the economy forward, that's a good thing to do and that would be great to do," he said. Source: CNN "State of the Union" on 2010 Florida Senate debate Jul 22, 2010

Marco Rubio: 2000: $4 surcharge to cruise tickets to fund Marlins stadium

Before the March 2000 session, Rubio was hardly the scorching conservative who would later woo Tea Partiers nationwide. He said he'd focus on supporting early education and community policing. And he wasn't particularly passionate about cutting spending. In his first three years, he supported adding a $4 surcharge to cruise tickets to fund a Marlins stadium and a $1.2 million earmark to build new bike paths in his district. Source: Miami New Times coverage of 2010 Florida Senate debate Jul 22, 2010

Charlie Crist: Reduce the tax brackets to let private enterprise flourish

CRIST: As it relates to taxes, as somebody who believes that we need to reduce the tax brackets, we need to reduce the income tax, in order to have private enterprise flourish--we have to do that because I think that we have an obligation to have this dream called America continue to be able to prosper. We've done that in Florida. In fact, I signed into law the largest single tax cut in the history of my state. Let me talk about my opponent and what he did on taxes. He proposed the largest tax increas in the history of my state, about a $9 billion increase in taxes. He said it would be some kind of a swap and that justifies it. But it would have hit sales tax, which would have been the most regressive tax that you could imagine--in other words, meaning that people who can least afford it have to pay the same as people who can afford a lot more.

RUBIO: That program would have eliminated property taxes for all sorts of people. And it was supported by Jeb Bush.

Source: Fox News Sunday 2010 Florida primary Senate debate Mar 28, 2010

Charlie Crist: 2006: Pledged no taxes; 2009: $2.2B in fees on 16M people

Q: When you were running for governor in 2006, you made a George H.W. Bush pledge, you will not raise taxes as long as you're governor. Last year you signed a $66 billion state budget that had a $2.2 billion increase in new taxes and fees. Didn't you break your promise?

CRIST: No, I don't think I did, and I'll tell you why. The only part of it that was a tax--and it's loosely defined as a tax--was on cigarettes. And I would argue that that's a user fee. If you don't use them, you don't pay it.

Q: But you also signed into law higher fees on drivers' licenses and on motor vehicle registration, motor vehicle tags. You said these aren't broad-based taxes. Governor, 16 million people are drivers in Florida. That's a pretty broad-based tax, isn't it?

Source: Fox News Sunday 2010 Florida primary Senate debate Mar 28, 2010

Marco Rubio: Proposed to replace property taxes with state sales tax

CRIST: My opponent proposed the largest tax increase in the history of my state, about a $9 billion increase in taxes. He said it would be some kind of a swap & that justifies it. But it would have hit sales tax, which would have been the most regressive tax that you could imagine--in other words, people who can least afford it have to pay the same as people who can afford a lot more.

RUBIO: It would have eliminated property taxes for all sorts of people. You said you ran as a Jeb Bush Republican. Jeb Bush supported that plan. And later on, you supported a similar plan.

Q: It would have eliminated the property tax and substituted a state tax?

RUBIO: With a revenue-neutral sales tax.

CRIST: Not revenue-neutral. It would have increased sales tax.

RUBIO: 30% of our sales tax are paid for by non-Floridians. It would have been a massive tax cut for Floridians on their property taxes.

CRIST: To the contrary. It would have been a massive tax increase.

Source: Fox News Sunday 2010 Florida primary Senate debate Mar 28, 2010

Marco Rubio: Pledged to never raise taxes as state rep

Q: [to Crist]: When you were running for governor in 2006, you pledged you would not raise taxes. Last year you signed a $2.2 billion increase in new taxes and fees. Didn't you break your promise?

CRIST: No, I don't think I did, [because the increases were all in fees].

RUBIO: I took a pledge when I became a state representative to never raise taxes. I never broke that pledge. And that's why the leader of that organization and basically every fiscally conservative group in the country has supported my candidacy.

CRIST: Actually, the speaker has broken that pledge.

RUBIO: The governor has broken his pledge. He broke it last year.

CRIST: No, that's not true. He voted for tax increases when he was on the West Miami City Commission, and he said on his Web site that he has never voted for a new tax. That's just not the truth, and he ought to be truthful to the people of Florida before he asks for their vote.

RUBIO: That's also inaccurate.

CRIST: [The press] just reported it yesterday.

Source: Fox News Sunday 2010 Florida primary Senate debate Mar 28, 2010

The above quotations are from 2010 Florida Senate debates. Click here for definitions & background information on Tax Reform. Click here for other issues (main summary page). Click here for more quotes by Marco Rubio on Tax Reform. Click here for more quotes by Charlie Crist on Tax Reform.
*Candidates and political leaders on Tax Reform:*
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