Latest / Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott / The President of JMI Offers Take On Property Tax, Budget

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The President of JMI Offers Take On Property Tax, Budget · Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Welcome third hour the Morning Show with President Scott. It
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: is so good to be with you. I appreciate it.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: We have got a great guest for you. Joins us
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: once a month. He's the president of the James Madison
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Institute and he is doctor Bob McClure. Hello, friend, how
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: are you.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: I'm doing terrific. How are you, sir?
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: I you know, I try to be transparent, doctor McClure.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: I'm not a happy camper when it comes to what
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: the legislature did. Let me get your thoughts on the
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: property tax amendment as it's presented.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: Let me tell you what they did, and then we'll
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: go from there. So essentially, they passed they're going to
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: put a constitutional amendment on the bout in November that
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: would raise the home set exemption from fifty to one
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: hundred and fifty to twenty seven and then from one
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: hundred and fifty to fifty and twenty.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Eight one nifty your phone cut out to two fifty, right.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: Yes, that is correct, yes, And so that you know
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: that will cover the vast majority of home owners, you know,
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: in terms of assessed value and what this the local
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: government does. But you know there are the local governments,
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: particularly well not just particularly all around the state Preston.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: As you know, they're always looking for more money and
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: how to spend more money. It's never about living within
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: your means or cutting back. And so I applaud the
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: governor for making this really a national issue. He has
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: been out front on this. This is what we have.
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: We have to be vigilant because local governments are not
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: going to cut back. There there's a possibility that they
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: could cost shifts, move their taxes to other areas. And so,
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: you know, is half a loaf better than no loaf?
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: I think for a lot of people it is. And
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: I think perceptions reality. And so if we're talking about
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: good policy, is it perfect, No, it's not. But if
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: it's a start, then maybe we have something we can
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: work with, because there's more to it than just that.
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: There's a component that says the legislature can go back
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: by fiat, not by fiat, by legislative action and raise
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: that exemption even more down the road, there's more to
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: be done, which we can talk about in this conversation.
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: We already know because the media outlets across Florida are
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: already doing it that counties and cities are beginning the threats. Well,
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: you know, if you pass this, we're gonna have to
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: make cuts to police, We're gonna have to make cuts
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: to parks and RECs, We're gonna have to make cuts
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: to things that matter to you people. And you and
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: I both know that's just nonsense. They will choose to
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: do that. They don't have to. So how do we
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: how do we gin up the support that is required
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: for what I think is a I personally don't like it,
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: but and anyway, how do we get support? How do
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: we get past that?
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: It's going to be a challenge. I mean this, if
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: you look at uh, you know these going back to
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: the nineties, these federal government shutdowns over spending and money.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: All of a sudden, the national parks weren't working properly. Yep,
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: you know, DC garbage was on the street, and you
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: know we you know, you see all this. Oh, veterans
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: aren't going to get their check those skip you hear
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: all that stuff. It's all a lie. It's a tough battle.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: It's tough, but if this is going to pass. Look,
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: I'll give the governor credit. If you remember two years
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: ago on the Weed Amendment and the really really radical
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: abortion emit. Even if your pro abortion and you listen
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: to your show, this amendment was radical by any stretch. Ye,
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: the governor was all in. He put all his chips
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: in the middle. And I give him full credit for
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: defeating the legalization of marijuana for Florida, which I think
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: would be a tragedy for the state if we did that. Ye,
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: given our tourism and whatnot. And for defeating that radical
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: abortion amendment. And so the governor, it's not gonna be
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: Bob McClure and Preston Scott. It's gonna be the governor
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: leading the way and others follow him. He put all
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: his chips in the middle on that two years ago
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: and he won. Now, conversely, it's got to pass. That
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: was to defeat, so he needed to keep it under
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: sixty percent. Right, for something to pass in Florida, it
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: requires sixty percent, and he kept both under sixty percent.
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: Now it's the opposite. You have to get sixty percent
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: to pass. I think he's got a good chance, this governor.
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: I don't understimate him in these situations, but it's gonna
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: be him who has the bully puppet pulpit.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: I think it should be Governor Rhonda Santus, and doctor
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: Bob McClure in Preston Scott. He is the president of
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: the James Madison Institute think tank based here in Florida's
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: capital city, advancing policy. That's good policy, doctor McClure. So
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: you're telling me that in this amendment there is a
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: provision that, if passed, that allows the legislature to raise it,
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: because right now it's sitting at two point fifty with
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: cpis tied to it is only going to help people
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: so long, and it's only going to help people that
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: have been in their homes for a very long time
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: because the average, the median price is four hundred thousand,
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: and so we're still back with the same problem of
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: never owning your own home.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: That's right, and I think that you know it's like
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: to me, Preston, this is a little bit like if
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: we can win this back, this is a little bit
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: like school choice and parental choice. So if you remember,
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: if you go back, if I take you back down
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: memory lane and you look, Jeb tried to pass the
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: tiny little program you're talking about five hundred one thousand
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: kids where parents could choose parents in underserved communities that
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: were really, really poor and poverty situations could pick a
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: school of their choice. Right. It worked. The program worked,
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: and African American communities, Hispanic communities began to love school
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: choice and lo and behold. It's the single most important
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: reason Ron DeSantis beat Andrew Gillim because a half million
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: African American women voted for Ron DeSantis in that election.
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: This is documented by JMI through the Wall Street Journal.
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: Because of school choice, DeSantis was going to expand it.
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: Andrew Gillam, a product of the teachers' unions, was going
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: to kill it. Now we have universal school choice, and
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: I see that its property tax situation is to start.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: And once it kicks in, if done the right way
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: with the governor, this initial governor with the bully pulpit,
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: if it passes, I think then you're gonna see people
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: begin to look at their property tax bill to realize
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: that the whole world doesn't break down, that police still
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: show up, public schools are still funded. I think that's
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: where we're going. This is not the best solution, but
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: it is a start, and I think if done right,
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: it's much like universal school choice, it spreads to a
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: grass fire that could be really effective.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: So they would not need an additional constitutional amendment vote
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: to raise it from two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: They would not.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: Nope, tell me this. You mentioned the bully pulpit that
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: Governor Desantas wielded the last time around on weed and abortion. However,
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: he also did have support. There were grassroots campaigns out there,
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: funded by different individuals that did stand alongside and what
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: we're out there fighting against the weed amendment, against the
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: abortion amendment. And I think that that played a role.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: Who would stand alongside, who would be out there funding
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: this effort to expand property tax relief?
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: Well, I think, first of all, I think it's a
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: little early because it just passed. You know, we're early
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: days past the legislative action. But I think there are
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: all kinds of groups that would support this. The other
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: thing that's important is that businesses were really worried that
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: they were going to the cost shiff was going to
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: go to non homestead of properties, right where local governments
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: could raise taxes just beyond measure. Well, the cat there's
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: five percent, So I think you're going to that they
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: can't raise you know, non homestead by more than five percent.
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: So I think you're going to see business groups come around.
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: I can't speak for anybody. I'd rather not just throw
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: out names, but I think you're gonna see taxpayer groups
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: and places like call your County, and and and Duval
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: County and you know, Polk County where Lakeland is. In
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: all of these areas where local taxes have gone through
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: the roof, I think you're gonna see chamber type groups,
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: small business type groups and and and really, if the
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: governor does it the right way, which he's done so far,
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: you're gonna see this kind of grassroots tax revolt reminiscent
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: of like a California in the eighties or for old
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: people when Reagan, you know, had the tax revolt and
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: he became governor of California. I'm gonna be some big money.
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: The governor doesn't just do things about thinking things through.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: But I hesitate to kind of name them until we
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: get further down the road.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: Final segment here, Doctor Bob McClure, he has followed Florida
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: politics more importantly Florida. You know, the politics is just
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: part of it, and the politics is the means to
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: the end, and the end is good policy. And doctor
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: McClure we had a special session to deal with the
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: budget because they couldn't get it across the finish line
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: before the end of the regular session. Your thoughts on
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: where the budget ended up and what you see coming
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: with the governor's pen you know.
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: Let me let me back up to what you just said,
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: because your listeners need to not lose that real, great
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: and tremendous insight. Good policy is good politics, and people
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: don't always think about that. Andrew Breitbart famously said that
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: politics is downstream from culture. If you have good policy,
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: you'll have good politics. And so too often your frustration
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: with elected officials is on point because they're cowardly. But
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: we this is the reason Florida has moved from a
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: blue to a pearl to a deep red state because
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: of good policy. I just wanted your listener to hold
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: on to that pearl of wisdom from you. In terms
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: of the budget, Look, we can be frustrated with the
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: fact that not much wasn't done. There was a ton
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: of acrimony with the governor and the House Speaker particularly,
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: that's no secret. But the state budget is going to
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: be about one hundred is currently I can't remember the
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: exact number. One hundred and fifteen billion, one hundred and sixteen,
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: let's call it one hundred and fifteen in round numbers.
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: We have twenty three million people in this state. Preston,
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: New York City has eight million. You know what New
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: York City's budget is, It's almost the same as the
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: entire state of Florida's. New York City's budget's about one
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: hundred and twelve million or billion, excuse me, ours is
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: one hundred and fifteen. So I will give this legislature
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: a lot of credit in the leadership in the House,
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: in the Senate. They're not spending like drunken sailors. And
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: I think what you'll see what you'll see with the
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: governor's veto pen, it's going to go lower. How much lower,
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: I don't know, but it is in terms of government spending,
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: in the need for cash. We have generationally benefited from
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: tremendous leaderships. Rick's I was tremendous. Governor DeSantis has been great,
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: and House and Senate leadership over the years. You're talking about,
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: per capita, one of the lowest spending states in the country,
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: and yet look at our services, look at you know,
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: do we have more to do? Of course, we always
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: need infrastructure and roads. That's a different discussion, but generally
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: Florida's run like a spinning top. And I and he's
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: also cut the debt. I think I think I saw
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: the number. I think it's fifty percent. I can't remember
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: the exact number.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we're and we're cutting more with this budget as well.
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: Another I want to say fifteen to sixteen million.
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, we have triple rating. You compare that to
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: California's pension what they're on the hook with their pensions
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: in Illinois and New York State. Again, it's this repetitive theme,
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: the good policy is good politics, and people move here
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: because of that.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: Do you think there needs to be I asked this
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: of your former colleague Sal Newsoh do you feel as
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: though you know we've cut to the bone and that
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: while state workers we might need to look at how
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: much we have in terms of positions in middle and
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: upper management inside the agencies. Do you think we're at
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: a point where we need to start looking at improving
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: the worker pay for rank and file state workers.
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: I do. And it's not just because I'm from Tallahassee. Look,
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: I I you know, if we are as lean as
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: we say, you know, then take care of the people
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: who do the job. Agreed, What is that? What does
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: that look like? But you know they've they've been pounded
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: on for thirty years, and rightfully so in many many ways.
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: But you have if you want quality people in those agencies,
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: you have to pay you know, you have to pay
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: a living wage. I hate that term because the unions
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: just beat it to death, but you have to pay
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: a serviceable wage, so I think it's worth looking at.
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: I don't have the answer as I talk to you
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: at this moment, but yes, I do believe that