Tirso Moreno says he's tired of getting beat up by Florida's tax system.
"I'm already paying a bigger share of what I earn in taxes than richer people," said Moreno, 54, a leader of the Apopka-based Farmworker Association of Florida. "Now, when times get tough and the state cuts, they cut services a lot of poor people need to get ahead."
Florida, criticized as having one of the most unfair tax systems in the nation, is mired in its worst budget year in decades. The state's declining economy has caused a sharp downturn in the sales-tax collections that finance most state programs. And as lawmakers return to the Capitol this week to open the 2008 legislative session, the budget knives are out.
Legislators -- after slicing $1 billion last fall -- plan to cut more than $500 million from this year's $70 billion budget before turning their attention to slashing another $2 billion from next year's plan.
Hospitals and other health-care providers expect to lose millions of dollars in state payments; universities plan to cap student enrollment; and public schools, the courts system and law enforcement are among those toggling between the prospect of scaling back programs or laying off workers.
"These are difficult decisions," said House Speaker Marco Rubio, R- West Miami. "But I'm not sure it will be as big a burden [on residents] as increasing their taxes or their fees or their cost of life in this state."
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