OCALA, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam was expected to have an easy victory and win the Florida Republican gubernatorial primary with a June poll lead of 20 points. Once President Trump endorsed Representative DeSantis, he pulled ahead in the polls. Then a Putnam PAC attacked DeSantis for supporting the FAIRtax, bill HR 25. The election gave DeSantis a victory of 56% to Putnam’s 37%.
The TV ads and mailers attacking Congressman Ron DeSantis as a FAIRtax co-sponsor were full of misinformation about the FAIRtax and implied that the FAIRtax would raise all prices by 23%, destroy Florida tourism, destroy families and basically destroy Florida. The ads labeled DeSantis a Washington insider even though the FAIRtax is hated inside the beltway by lobbyists, special interests, politicians who like power and control, crony capitalists and tax lawyers.
Per Steve Hayes, President of Americans for Fair Taxation, “One political consultant told me that the social media comments were the most negative for any candidate’s ad that he had ever seen. Almost all of the comments were pointing out untruths in the ads and switching support to Mr. DeSantis. The attack ads were driving people away from Putnam and to DeSantis.” Some political operatives have estimated that the negative FAIRtax ads may have helped account for Mr. DeSantis’ victory margin.
CONCLUSION
Members of Congress have expressed concern about co-sponsoring the FAIRtax in fear opponents distorting the facts about the FAIRtax and scaring enough voters for them to be defeated. While any position might offend some, a position that is supported by a vocal minority can provide the margin to victory.
The impact of the negative ads signifies that enough voters now understand the FAIRtax and when lies are told about it, the false and misleading message is recognized as lies. Voters logically ask how anyone can oppose such a commonsense idea and if someone is going to distort the FAIRtax truth, then how can they be trusted at all?
The FAIRtax empowers all legal residents and puts them in charge of how much money they have for consumption and how much federal tax they pay. The FAIRtax ensures that our economy will continue to prosper and our children and grandchildren will have the opportunity that we wish for all Americans. Learn more at www.bigsolution.org.
Florida Fair Tax Educational Association is a 501(c) (3) to inform and educate the citizens on alternatives to the current system of federal taxation based on the following principles: fairness, simplicity, transparency, pro-economic growth and revenue neutrality.
Florida FairTax Educational Association
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