Republican Rick Scott and Democrat Alex Sink — who will face off in November to see who will be the state’s next governor — will deal with the negative impact the ongoing recession has had on employment in Florida.
The Miami Herald‘s Naked Politics blog posted on Monday that “Rick Scott and Alex Sink are both CEOs-turned-politicians who agree that Florida needs to revamp economic incentives, provide tax breaks, and streamline regulations. But they fundamentally disagree on how to do it.”
Naked Politics lays out some of the details of Scott’s plan:
- Reduce government by reducing state workforce 5.5 percent to 3 percent in the first year and half a percent each year thereafter.
- Eliminate overlapping state economic agencies.
- Cut government spending at least $6 billion, rolling state and local government spending to 2004 levels.
Among other ideas, Sink would
- Allow small and start-up businesses to defer state corporate income taxes for first three years when they are most vulnerable to failing.
- Use $2 billion of Florida Retirement System’s $130 billion in assets for high-tech investments in life sciences, clean energy and aerospace/aviation.
- Give businesses that employ Floridians a competitive advantage when seeking state contracts.
