March 08, 2005
Jeb! funds Medically Needy in order to ease death of Medicaid
And, surprise, he wants tax cuts for the rich.
On the eve of the 2005 Legislature, Gov. Jeb Bush proposed speeding up the elimination of an investments tax and fully funding a health care program for the gravely ill and uninsured.Posted by Norwood at March 8, 2005 05:04 AMThe proposals were part of nearly $700-million in spending recommendations Bush made Monday.
The tax cut would save 320,000 Floridians almost $300-million a year. The Legislature has been chipping away for years at the intangibles tax - a tax on stocks and bonds - and eliminating it has been a priority of the governor's.
Now, with the state's economy buoyed by rebuilding from last year's hurricanes, Bush says the time is right to eliminate the tax.
"Given the robust nature of our economy, this would be a good time to do it," Bush said.
House Speaker Allan Bense supports the proposal, but Senate President Tom Lee has been more cautious about tax cuts.
If lawmakers agree to eliminate the intangibles tax, it would raise to $11-billion the amount of taxes cut by the Bush administration through the 2005 fiscal year.
Bush had proposed gutting most of the Medically Needy program but sought to avoid a political battle that could threaten his ambitious plan to convert Medicaid into a government-funded private insurance plan. "I didn't want the Medically Needy issue to get in the way of discussion about Medicaid reform," Bush said Monday. "I thought it was appropriate to take that off the table for the Legislature."
