November 23, 2008
Miami Herald Cites State-Local Tax Burden Report in Story on Florida Budget Crisis
"Education Gets Another Kick in the Teeth"
By Fred Grimm
Meanwhile, many of the state's best professors, frustrated by their low pay, are leaving in droves.
Increasing taxes might seem the most obvious strategy for raising Florida's education system to a less disgraceful status. Floridians, after all, only pay an average of 7.4 percent of their income in state and local taxes -- 47th in the nation, according to the Tax Foundation.
Not a chance. The fellows in Tallahassee won't even talk about raising taxes. Certainly not for education. (They've reduced Florida's ranking among the states and the District of Columbia in K-through-12 per-student funding to 50th in the nation.)
