The Governor went on a 15 minute rant yesterday. He attacked fellow Republicans in the Florida House of Representatives. Rick Scott says some of the lawmakers challenging his economic incentive programs have no clue how business really works because they’ve never been there.
Scott didn’t name names… he didn’t have to. House Speaker Richard Corcoran responded to the governor’s remarks by saying the House will stop the waste of taxpayer money and therefore end the culture of corruption regardless of the consequences.
Here is a good article by the Tampa Bay Times.
Column: Visit Florida not critical to state’s economy or tourism
“We found that when a state spent $1 million in taxpayer funds to promote itself, its accommodations industry saw its economic activity go up by $20,000. That’s no typo. It’s not $200,000 or $2 million, nor does it refer to the total taxes that flow to state treasuries as a result of the promotional efforts. We also found that such work does not translate into higher incomes for industry employees. When you compare the outlay with the increase in economic activity, it’s clear that state subsidies for tourism promotion produce huge negative returns on investment.
The meager benefit enjoyed by the accommodations industry was the most positive impact we found in our analysis. We found no impact on economic activity or income in the amusement and recreation sector. Due to limits in the data, we were unable to measure economic activity in arts and entertainment. We did, however, find that a state spending increase of $1 million led to a total increase in income of $35,000 in the arts and entertainment sector, shared by all those who worked in it.”
excerpt