Ron Desantis 3

Gov. DeSantis Touts Florida’s Anti-Lockdown Economic Success

President Joe Biden recently smeared two Republican governors as “Neanderthals” for daring to reopen their states as the coronavirus wanes and the vaccines accelerate.

But another of those “Neanderthals,” Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, explained on Friday how backward the thinking of Biden and the liberal lockdowns really is.

In announcing the latest developments in his “Seniors First” COVID-19 vaccine campaign, DeSantis offered reporters some new economic numbers for his state.

In the press conference, DeSantis noted that Florida’s unemployment rate for December was adjusted from an original estimate of 6.1 percent to 5.1 percent.

“That’s a really positive revision,” DeSantis said. “It shows that we’ve got a lot of economic momentum here in the state of Florida, and we want to continue on that path.”

To put that in context, the non-Neanderthal lockdown kings, Democratic Govs. Andrew Cuomo in New York and Gavin Newsom in California, boast unemployment rates of 8.7 percent and 9.3 percent, respectively.

While Florida ranks 19th nationally, New York comes in at 48th and California 50th.

“The only reason we’re doing it is that Florida is open,” the governor said.

“We’re trusting people to make decisions. We want businesses to be functional and operational. We want people working. We stand with our folks who work at places like restaurants and these other endeavors because they’re important parts of our community.”

Continuing, DeSantis said state tax revenues “were being revised upward even more.”

For February, he said, tax revenues on real estate transactions were up 40 percent above the initial estimate of state economists.

“Why? Because people are buying homes like hotcakes here,” said DeSantis. “It’s hard to find a home in many parts of Florida because the real estate market is doing so well.”

State sales taxes, he said, up 10 percent. Florida’s “intangible” tax, assessed on lenders for financial obligations secured by mortgages or liens on property, was up 47 percent.

“We’re not raising taxes at all. We haven’t done any of that. Just the revenue is coming in,” he said.

Meanwhile, new incorporation filing fees were up 74 percent, DeSantis noted, “because people are looking to be able to start businesses here.”

“Lord knows you can’t start businesses in a lot of these other states.”

He concluded, “I think that’s a testament that the state of Florida is doing a good job. We’re getting things done. We’ve got a whole host of things that we have to tackle, but boy, I’d much rather have that unemployment (rate) at 5.1 percent than at 8 or 9 percent. … I’d rather have the revenue coming above estimate than us be hurting for revenue like so many people were predicting nine or 10 months ago.“

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