Notes For Wednesday, November 19, 2003

In the three decades since voters enacted a business income tax, Florida has more than doubled in size and business profits have never been higher. So why, a new Senate report asks, did corporate taxes fall while corporate profits rose?

The answer is that companies hired lawyers to find ways to duck their tax obligations, so much so that the businesses left paying the tax are being played for fools. In 2001, according to an analysis by Times writer Sydney P. Freedberg, just 5,303 of the state's 1.5-million businesses paid 98 percent of the tax. Nine of every 10 businesses paid nothing at all. Verizon Communications Inc., with $6-billion in pretax earnings, was among them. "Corporations' free ride".


STRANGE BEDFELLOWS - Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Lieberman was endorsed Tuesday by U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, who cited the Connecticut senator's position on national security and involvement with civil rights issues. "Rep. Alcee Hastings endorses Lieberman for president".


BE AFRAID, VERY AFRAID - Florida House Speaker Johnnie Byrd doesn't deny he's conservative and says on his campaign Web site that he is running for the U.S. Senate because the "liberal agenda of the Democratic Party is out of step with the typical Florida family."

And it appears that the Florida House will soon help remind voters of the conservative positions held by the Plant City Republican. "House to consider guns, abortion". See also "Colleagues support candidate for Senate".


YOU DON'T THINK . . . A state senator called Tuesday for an expanded state investigation into a conference at a Miami Beach resort hotel last year where state officials partied with the help of telephone companies now urging them to approve the biggest local phone rate increase in Florida history. "Senator urges investigation into utility-backed convention".


DAILY OLIPHANT - "State delays release of its report on Oliphant".


DUMB VOTERS . . . AN IDEA MADE IN GOP HEAVEN - One of the more flippant education reforms in Florida this year was to offer students an Econo Lodge version of high school. U.S. Rep. Jim Davis, D-Tampa, is justly critical of the three-year graduation plan. "Fix this in Florida".


STRAW BALLOT - Floridians just lost an important attempt to make their voices heard and their clout felt in nominating a candidate for president next year. Now they must unite across party lines to help fix the process all states are using to choose presidential nominees. That process is badly broken and risks a serious misfire in 2004. "No Straw Vote: What's Next?" 8:52 AM [Go to current Florida Politics site (no popup ads)]