DeSantis: High Taxes a ‘Vicious Cycle’ that ‘Doesn’t Work’

May 5, 2022 Updated 9:14 A.M. ET

CLEARWATER (FLV) – Gov. Ron DeSantis took aim at states with high taxes Wednesday after he announced Florida is expected to have the biggest budget surplus in the history of the state. 

“It’s being done with very low tax rates,” DeSantis said. “And it’s a lesson that you will actually do better from a revenue perspective if you keep taxes low and expand your economic base.”

“What a lot of these high tax states do, they keep taxing people and people leave. And so they are constricting their own economic base and then they’ve got to go to the well again and tax and tax more. And it’s basically a vicious cycle. That doesn’t work,” DeSantis said. 

The Governor said Florida is expected to bring in about $760 million above estimate for the month of April. By the time the fiscal year ends June 30th, DeSantis said Florida will have more than $20 billion in surplus, calling it the biggest surplus in the state’s history.

He pointed the success to Florida’s lack of income tax and “low tax burden.”

“We’re creating a virtuous cycle here in Florida where you have good conditions, low taxes, our economy expands, and it really reinforces one another,” he explained. “Happy about doing that.”

Inflation soared to a 40-year high in April and in response the Federal Reserve raised its target federal funds rate by half a point. 

DeSantis said it is possible President Joe Biden will “plunge” the U.S. into a recession due to “bad policies” coming out of Washington, D.C. However, the Governor said Florida will be prepared to fill any budget holes. 

“Hopefully that doesn’t happen. But I think prudent statesmanship is to be prepared in case something like that does happen. And so we are happy with our fiscal situation,” DeSantis said Tuesday at a press conference.

“If we did see a national economic downturn that did impact Florida, we have the reserves ready. We would not miss a beat in terms of meeting our priorities for education, infrastructure, water resources. All of these things that have been so important.”