Florida Republican Governor Rick Scott is no fan of taxes, promising to "oppose and veto any and all efforts to increase taxes."
And PolitiFact Florida says Scott has followed through on that promise.
"This one we put on our 'Scott-O-Meter' that rates his promises and and we found it a 'promise kept,'" said Josh Gillin of PolitiFact Florida. "He had the benefit, the governor did, of having a legislature that really didn't give him many chances to have to oppose anything."
The only real question about Scott keeping his promise to oppose or veto any new taxes was Amazon's plans to start doing business in the state. With the online company building distribution centers in Hillsborough and Polk Counties, Floridians would now be required to pay sales tax on the items they order from Amazon.
Scott did not oppose that sales tax. But PolitiFact decided that the sales tax on those Amazon goods was already on the books.
"Going back to to 1949, there's a use tax that says you're supposed to be reporting things you buy from out of state anyway, and that's been amended to include online purchases," Gillin explained. "Nobody seems to know about that one. Nobody seems to volunteer. But that's the case. We called it a 'promise kept.'"
