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Normally Steve Moore knows what he's talking about. In giving JEB an A, he's missed the mark.

I don't doubt JEB was walking the halls of the Capitol opposing the expansion of the sales tax. After all, it was this issue - in almost exactly this form - that made Bob Martinez a one term Governor. JEB knows this well since Martinez appointed JEB Secretary of Commerce back in 1986. JEB has previously indicated he vigorously opposed the effort fifteen years ago in private conversations with Martinez. It was understood that he'd stop any such nonsense if it came up under his watch.

Unfortunatly, when the subject was brought up by Republican Senate President John McKay this year, JEB's silence was deafening. JEB's memory improved as soon as a poll was released showing the public thought it was a lousy idea by some 80%-20%. He stood up in opposition immediately thereafter. It's a real pity, because if JEB had told McKay early on that his proposal would be DOA if it got to his desk, it would never have passed the Senate (which it did), or perhaps not even been brought up. House Speaker Tom Feeney, with the support of pretty unified House Republicans killed the proposal. JEB then brokered a compromise between the Senate and House resulting in a proposal to establish a tax increase favoring committee to appear on the ballot this year. Just two days ago, a judge ruled it off the ballot with appeals due today. After today, the ballots will have been printed and can't be changed so, without a successful last minute challenge, the taxpayers of Florida will have been saved in the knick of time - no thanks to JEB.

I guess sales tax is a two-edged sword. On the one hand, government does need somewhere to get revenue (if not from income taxes or property taxes). And, to some extent, people can decide to spend money or not. On the other hand, sales tax hurts those who can least afford it (unless food is exempted, or there is some exemption for really poor people). Also, it inhibits spending and hurts businesses that produce goods and services that represent discretionary purchases.

The problem I have with income tax is that it doesn't recognize how many hours people work to make their "windfall" income; for example, a couple working a total of 150 hours a week and making $150K combined is considered rich, but look at what their hourly rate turns out to be. Income tax penalizes them. It also penalizes people who save, as do capital gains taxes. And the alternative minimum tax penalizes people with a lot of deductible expenses, like legal expenses, for example, which do not enrich them and are not discretionary one iota.

Taxes are a real mire. Even if we had the flat federal income tax, that would mean state taxes were not deductible, and this could hurt people. I wish someone would come up with a fair formula.