PolitiFact.com
Statements about Taxes
Rick Scott

Rick Scott

Mostly False

More than half of the cuts are for corporations, not households

Says his tax and fee cuts will save households "$540 over two years."

Alan Grayson

Alan Grayson

Mostly True

Enough for 20,000 jars of Grey Poupon

"The Republican plan for tax cuts is to give each millionaire -- the top 1 percent of income in this country -- $83,347 a year in tax cuts."

Jeff Brandes

Jeff Brandes

Mostly True

Tax vote claims are correct but balanced budget vote was symbolic

Bill Heller "raises taxes. Property taxes. Small business taxes. He even wants to tax the Internet. Mr. Heller said no to balancing the federal budget, that puts more debt on our kids."

Kendrick Meek

Kendrick Meek

False

Off by a factor of 10

"Middle-class families throughout America (would) have to pay $6,000 per year" to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy.

Jeff Atwater

Jeff Atwater

False

Voting against cuts isn't 'pushing'

Loranne "Ausley's a financial train wreck for taxpayers -- pushing gas taxes, property taxes, taxes on seniors."

Allen Boyd

Allen Boyd

False

Business property taxes late, but paid with penalty

"Steve Southerland did not pay his taxes in '05, '06, '07, '08 or '09."

Marco Rubio

Marco Rubio

Mostly True

One year much leaner than the other

"The years that I was speaker, the Florida House consistently offered leaner budgets than the governor offered."

Susan Latvala

Susan Latvala

False

Oh yes, it's all coming back now.

"One of the other inaccuracies ... is that we have raised taxes multiple times and run up the budget. Absolutely not true. One tax increase since I’ve been in office. It was a quarter mill tax in the unincorporated area only."

Republican Party of Florida

Republican Party of Florida

False

A vague and distorted claim

Loranne Ausley "voted six times to tax your savings."

Alan Grayson

Alan Grayson

Mostly True

It's not a fancy spiral staircase

"When career politician Daniel Webster became speaker of the House, he wasted $32,000 of our money on a spiral staircase for his office."

Sam Rashid

Sam Rashid

Mostly False

But the amount may vary, it's not all rail, and it's not just Tampa

The sales tax increase, if approved, will cost taxpayers "up to $300 million per year, in perpetuity, to finance a rail system for the City of Tampa."

Josh Burgin

Josh Burgin

False

The math is wrong because he started with the wrong year

Property taxes "are now 18% higher than when (Mark Sharpe) first took office." 

Mark Sharpe

Mark Sharpe

Mostly False

But cutting the tax rate isn't the same as cutting taxes.

"Mark Sharpe has lowered property taxes by 17 percent."

Committee to Protect Florida

Committee to Protect Florida

Mostly True

Half of 12 meetings, not half of 14

Kathryn Starkey "only attended half of those meetings."  

Committee to Protect Florida

Committee to Protect Florida

Half-True

But Starkey proposed lowering the tax rate

Kathryn Starkey "aided and abetted the continued taxation on residents’ properties over 70 percent of the time by seconding motions and voting to keep the millage rate the same."

Committee to Protect Florida

Committee to Protect Florida

False

Republicans led the Pasco sales tax drive

Kathryn Starkey "joined forces with liberal Democrats on a historic sales tax hike."

Rick Scott

Rick Scott

Mostly False

Double and triple counting some votes while ignoring tax cuts

"Bill McCollum voted for higher taxes and fees 42 times while he was in Congress."

Rick Scott

Rick Scott

Mostly True

The 7-7-7 plan requires a bit of rounding

"My 7-step plan" creates 700,000 jobs in 7 years.

Rachel Maddow

Rachel Maddow

Mostly True

Projections are on Maddow's side

Marco Rubio's "economic proposals will add $3.5 trillion to the federal deficit."

Ellyn Bogdanoff

Ellyn Bogdanoff

Mostly False

Said "no'' but voted "yes"

"I said no to higher taxes and fees."

Advertisement
How to contact us:

We want to hear your suggestions and comments. For tips or comments on our campaign promise database, please e-mail the Obameter. If you are commenting on a specific promise, please include the promise number. For comments about our Truth-O-Meter or Flip-O-Meter items, please e-mail the Truth-O-Meter. We’re especially interested in seeing any chain e-mails you receive that you would like us to check out. If you send us a comment, we'll assume you don't mind us publishing it unless you tell us otherwise.

Browse the The Truth-O-MeterTM:
Browse The Obameter:
Subscribe:

Keep up to date with Politifact National: