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Crist proposes corporate income tax cut

December 18, 2009 —

Feeling the chill wind of conservative displeasure in his US Senate race, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist is floating the idea of a cut in the state's corporate income tax, which generates $1.7 billion annually.

Crist told the editorial board of the South Florida Sun Sentinel Thursday he thought a tax cut might free up more money for hiring. But with  the state's budget already in the red, he will likely have a hard time selling the idea to legislators next year.

Meanwhile, Crist told the board he'd heard rumors about Scott Rothstein, the lawyer accused in a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme, but saw no reason to distance himself from the wealthy Republican contributor.

-- Could these be green shoots? Two days after the State Budget and Control Board slashed $238 million from South Carolina's budget, state economists had some good news: November revenues were up 5.5 percent from the previous year, the first monthly increase in a year.  Budget planners across the South have been counting on an uptick, reflecting the fact that it's a year since the economy bottomed out, but the $25.5 million increase was welcome news in South Carolina.

In another hopeful sign, the city of Columbia reported it is now $4 million under budget.

-- The internet strikes again: Christopher Hightower, the spokesman for Kentucky US Senate candidate Rand Paul, has resigned after a blog exposed racial slurs on his MySpace page. The racial slurs came from someone else who posted on Hightower's page, but had been posted for two years around the time of Martin Luther King Day.

-- An aide to former Gov. Mike Easley declined to testify before the State Board of Elections citing the Fifth Amendment Thursday. Ruffin Poole, who was special counsel and executive counsel to Easley, was being questioned about possible campaign violations involving donations from politically connected businessmen.