Word: florida
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Rookie Republican Governor Bob Martinez hoped to finance the future with a 5% tax on the services industry, Florida's largest and fastest-growing sector of the economy. The tax, which became law last July, affected services from pet grooming to lawyers' fees. It was expected to produce $800 million in the first year and provide a solution to the state's need for money...
Charles and Dianne Jones moved to Jacksonville last September to escape Houston's depressed economy and stretch their dollar a little further in a state known for its low taxes. What they found along with the Florida sunshine were inadequate schools, clogged roads and poor social services. "We have a 16-year-old daughter who comes home from school with a different problem every day," says Mrs. Jones. "She can't get this; the school doesn't provide that. You get three cars on the road, and you have a traffic...
Signs of decay are everywhere in Florida. The state's waterways are polluted, and its public health system is woeful. The prisons teem with criminals who are often released before their original sentences expire to make room for others. More than 300,000 newcomers arrive annually, straining a system already near the breakpoint. The state department of education estimates that it must absorb 800,000 new students and build 933 new schools during the next decade just to keep pace with growth...
...real estate agents and citizen groups who complained about inequities and red tape. Last month the legislature replaced the services tax with a penny increase in the state sales tax. Critics contend that the new 6% duty will raise no more than half of the estimated $52.9 billion that Florida will require for roads, schools, prisons and hospitals in ten years...
...search for new money won't be easy. The state constitution bans a personal income tax, and other revenue raisers are equally unpalatable. "The people of Florida have not yet grasped the enormity of our financial problems," says Sam Bell, chairman of the Florida house appropriations committee. "We're not even talking about improvements here. We're just trying to keep from going under...