The Florida Manufactured Housing Association (FMHA) spotlighted Adam Putnam earlier this year, after his tour of a HUD Code manufactured home and modular housing factory in Plant City, FL.
Ag Commissioner, Gubernatorial Candidate Adam Putnam Tours Palm Harbor Plant
Adam Putnam’s connected political action committee (PAC), called ‘Florida Grown,’ raised a topic that arguably ought to be a national debate, not just one in Florida.
The topic of a Florida Grown hit-ad, the issues raised by the video and radio ads is actually about replacing the federal income with a national sales tax.
But that’s not how the attack ad frames the topic. The replacing the income tax with a national sales tax goes unmentioned in the current variations of the ads.
Congressman Ron DeSantis is a U.S. representative, who enjoys the support of President Donald J. Trump. In fact, the president has a rally planned in Tampa next Tuesday, to support DeSantis and other GOP candidates.
Florida’s GOP gubernatorial primary is August 28th.
Newsmax advised the Daily Business News that DeSantis is sponsoring the Fair Tax Act of 2017. The proposed bill “would have replaced income and corporate taxes with a 23-percent national sales tax.”
“What would a 23 percent sales tax do to Florida’s economy?” asks an attack ad now on YouTube, dubbing DeSantis as “D.C. DeSantis.”
“If Congressman DeSantis had his way, everything would cost 23 percent more — groceries, gas, home purchases.”
Fact Check
As noted, the Florida Grown PAC ad fails to mention that the sales tax would eliminate the income tax. It also fails to mention the exemptions that would be part of the proposal.
As is often the case with hit ads, video, radio or print attack ads can use hyperbole, skew facts, and at times totally ignore the reasons for supporting an attacked proposal.
The Florida Grown hit-ad does all of that, and more.
A specific breakdown could reveal how that the plan could reduce the tax burdens, because it eliminates the income tax. That said, MHProNews is not promoting or opposing the proposal, but rather spotlighting the flaws in Florida Grown and Adam Putnam radio and video ads.
The Truth About Taxes?
Every business must cover the costs of federal taxes, which are priced into products and services.
So there is an argument to be made that a VAT or national sales tax is more transparent, and could save hundreds of millions of man-hours in annual income tax preparation.
The costs for those man-hours is in the billions, per Forbes, George Mason University, and others.
“Congressman DeSantis sponsored legislation to increase sales taxes by 23 percent, hurting families, destroying jobs, devastating tourism. Washington is full of bad ideas and phony politicians. Ron DeSantis and his huge tax increase fit right in,” the ad says.
Putnam, Florida’s agriculture commissioner, had been the front-runner in the race to replace current Gov. Rick Scott.
But a new poll from the Florida Atlantic University (FAU) Business and Economic Polling Initiative reported that DeSantis has a lead over Putnam in the Republican primary for the Florida governor’s race. That polling may have sparked this attack ad.
The Fair Tax Act of 2017 has not progressed since it was introduced, per GovTrack. But the bill sought to “promote freedom, fairness, and economic opportunity by repealing the income tax and other taxes, abolishing the Internal Revenue Service, and enacting a national sales tax to be administered primarily by the states.”
It remains to be seen how DeSantis will respond to the ad. There are 46 co-sponsors to the Fair Tax Act (HR 25). But if DeSantis opts to make it a debating point, it could raise significant issues that could simplify a businesses operations.
GovTrack said this morning has only a 3 percent chance of passage this year, per Skopos Labs. But a robust discussion could raise awareness.
An OAN video on DeSantis is provided as balance for the attack ad.
Again, MHProNews is not at this time supporting or defending any candidate in this race. Rather, the Daily Business News is only providing an analysis of a demonstrably misleading ad.
In one of the top manufactured housing states in the nation, this will be a state and race to watch. “We Provide, You Decide.” © ## (News, analysis, and commentary.)
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