I could have titled this “Revenge of the Jebi” but you’ll get the point.  Many states have processes to revise their constitution, including regularly scheduling referenda on whether to create a constitutional convention. Florida is a bit different. Every twenty years a committee of elders (aka the Tax and Budget Reform Commission) gets appointed to decide on placing amendments regarding budget and tax policy before the people. No need to gather signatures, or for the legislature to approve.  If the panel decides, it goes on the ballot.

The St Pete Times has a nice rundown on how this is the latest ugly gift from the Bush family to Florid's families. A sequel if you will.  And the Miami Herald Blog has some of the inside scoop on the process. With things first being voted down and then resurrected, there’s enough back room arm twisting to make Joe Williams faint. The Herald Blog quotes state rep Dan Gelber as saying the commission's work was "ideological pork.'' It’s going to be a busy ballot season in Florida. 

We’ve got two initiatives related to the court ruling eliminating the voucher program. The first of these would weaken the protections on the separation of church and state. The second would eliminate the requirement for a "uniform efficient, safe secure, and high quality system of free public schools."  Way to go, guys. And there's some 65 percent deception language still floating out there. As we’ve blogged before, 65 is the MSG of Jeb Bush education reform schemes. It’s designed to make everything taste better, but it’ll give you a headache.  

There’s also a tax swap.  It would cut about a quarter of most homeowners’ property tax bills. The roughly $9 billion cut to school funding would be balanced out through the Legislature imposing at least a one cent sales tax increase, elimination of some of the 246 sales tax exemptions currently found in state law, and most likely further cuts to the state budget. A tax swap to make Florida less reliant on the property tax is probably a good idea. Broadening the sales tax base might be a good idea as well. Given the other stuff this commission has put out, you’ll forgive me for not just accepting their math.  And moving from a regressive tax to a more regressive tax isn’t what people struggling with a recession need.  The property tax is less popular, but in a dollar-for-dollar shift, switching from property to sales taxes is a tax cut for the rich and a tax hike for the poor.  Thanks, Jeb.