Florida Gov. Visits PA Touting Sunshine State

By Andrew Staub | PA Independent

Florida Gov. Rick Scott has brazenly proclaimed his plans to lure businesses from Pennsylvania, his pitch hitting on low taxes and business-friendly policies.

The Republican governor, in Philadelphia on Monday, wasn’t so direct regarding taxpayer-funded perks to entice businesses to move south.

Scott, evasive when asked about tax incentives, said “every deal is a little bit different.” He acknowledged the state has a “package” that could be considered “as long as our taxpayers get a return.” He stopped short of saying he was hawking any such arrangement.

“I can’t talk about any of the deals we’re doing because the companies keep these things confidential until they decide they want to do it,” Scott said.

But the governor’s entourage offered a hint. Scott brought the incoming CEO of Enterprise Florida, a public-private partnership tasked with spurring economic development.

The entity has helped broker past relocation deals that include millions in state and local tax incentives, and Scott has touted arrangements that helped bring companies such as Hertz to his state.

Even with business-friendly taxes and warm weather, Scott still sees a need to sweeten the pot with incentives.

“As long as I can get a return for our taxpayers, I’m going to continue to work to do it,” Scott said. “That’s what other states are doing. I compete with states all across the country.”

The strategy doesn’t always work. Office Depot is moving its headquarters out of South Florida after it got millions in state and local tax incentives to stay. The state had yet to pay about $3 million when the company announced the move, however.

For now, Floridians will have to wait to see if they’ll shoulder the risk of Scott’s economic development foray to the north.

Pennsylvania lawmakers are wary, especially considering Scott can tout Florida’s 5.5 percent corporate tax rate. Pennsylvania charges a whopping 9.99 percent.

The House GOP Policy Committee held a hearing in York County last week to examine the state’s business climate, and, according to a press advisory, the meeting was “in response to recent comments by Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who boastfully announced his intention to poach Pennsylvania jobs.”

Scott struck at a time when businesses here might be willing to listen.

The job-poaching operation — which Scott diplomatically called a “domestic mission trip” — comes a week before Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf will outline his first budget proposal. The state faces a potential deficit of more than $2 billion, and the business community has been wondering how Wolf will fill the gap, short of raising taxes.

Wolf, a Democrat, has already said he wants to institute a progressive income tax that will make the rich pay more, as well as a severance tax on the natural gas industry. He  favors raising the minimum wage and implementing mandatory paid sick leave, two more ideas that concern the private sector.

To Scott, those kinds of polices make his state seem as sweet as a Florida orange.

“When you have a governor that’s raising taxes, that makes it a little bit easier,” he said.

Scott’s taking some liberty with those comments, considering Wolf cannot unilaterally raise taxes. Some lawmakers think it would take an amendment to the state constitution to change the state’s flat personal income tax, eating up Wolf’s first term.

Even if it didn’t take a constitutional amendment, that proposal — as well as Wolf’s hopes for a severance tax — would face stiff opposition in a Republican-controlled General Assembly. Even so, Florida still holds an advantage because it has no state income tax.

Monday, Wolf’s administration pooh-poohed Scott’s visit. Spokesman Jeffrey Sheridan said Scott didn’t come out swinging like this when Republican Tom Corbett was governor, and he pointed to Wolf’s experience running a family business.

“He knows what the business community needs, and he is working to improve the stagnant economy he inherited by investing in education and creating strong, middle-class jobs,” Sheridan said in a statement. “Gov. Scott’s political theatre doesn’t mean anything.”

Wolf might be posturing, but Sheridan’s statement contained an element of truth. Scott’s appearance at the Four Seasons in Philadelphia — ostensibly to announce the growth of Wawa convenience stores in Florida — certainly included scripted moments.

Scott joined Wawa CEO Chris Gheysons to announce Pennsylvania’s iconic convenience store chain was expanding in Florida.

Wawa first talked with Scott about dipping into Florida in 2011. It originally aimed to have 40 stores by now but has opened 61 in the Sunshine State and is working at a pace of 25 new stores a year, Gheysons said.

While Gheysons said Wawa hasn’t received incentive packages to accelerate growth, he attributes the rapid expansion to Florida’s easier regulatory environment. The company opens stores there in 12 to 18 months compared to three to four years in Pennsylvania, he said.

“Going into the state we knew that it would be a little bit easier from a development perspective,” Gheysons said. “We didn’t expect it to be this much more efficient, this much more streamlined.”

If Pennsylvania indeed has a “low self-esteem” problem when it comes believing in its capabilities — as Wolf contended Monday — those kinds of comments probably don’t help.

On the bright side, the Florida expansion isn’t coming at a cost to development in Pennsylvania, Gheysons said, and Scott didn’t wrestle Wawa’s corporate headquarters from Delaware County, with the company choosing to expand there instead.

“While the governor might want us down in Florida. We are going to stay here in Pennsylvania in Wawa, Pa., for our headquarters long-term,” Gheysons said.

Scott interjected.

“I could try, right?”