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miami
DeSantis Declares Emergency Over Floods After Cutting Stormwater Funds
"As I'm sitting here stuck on a Brightline train because of flooding in my district, all those stormwater projects he cut look pretty stupid right now," a Florida lawmaker said.
Jun 13, 2024
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency on Wednesday for five counties due to heavy flooding in southern Florida just the day after he cut $205 million in stormwater, wastewater, and sewer projects from the state's budget.
Heavy rains caused by a disorganized tropical system have inundated southern and western Florida since Tuesday, bringing more than a foot of rain in places and disrupting road and air travel throughout the area. The Weather Prediction Center (WPC), part of the National Weather Service, put southern Florida under a rare 4 out of 4 high risk of flooding on Thursday as rains were expected to continue there, and warned that it could be "locally catastrophic."
The rains "transformed roads into canals and caused water to seep into homes," CNN reported, while a tow truck driver in Fort Lauderdale told The Associated Press that abandoned cars everywhere reminded him of "zombie movie."
The extreme weather prompted state Sen. Jason Pizzo (D-37) to criticize DeSantis' budget cut.
"As I’m sitting here stuck on a Brightline train because of flooding in my district, all those stormwater projects he cut look pretty stupid right now,” Pizzo told the AP.
DeSantis cut the $205 million from the budget amid other cuts that he made Tuesday in finalizing the state budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year that begins on July 1, Tampa Bay Times reported.
In May, DeSantis signed a bill that removes most references to climate change from state law and streamlines fossil fuel development projects—"Don't Say Climate Change," the bill's critics have called it, including a meteorologist who spoke up against it on air. On the day he signed the legislation, Key West was a record-setting 115°F.
Florida is particularly vulnerable to rising seas and to extreme weather, including hurricanes and tropical storms, made more likely and more intense by climate change.
#Floridians, as you drive through waste-deep water and discover your waterfront property is also fully submersible, remember @GovRonDeSantis prohibits you from uttering the words “climate change” and “global warming.” And it’s not even hurricane season. pic.twitter.com/0s5YQM0jFA
— Sound The Retweet: 🗳 I VOTED HIM OUT (@SOUNDtheRETWEET) June 13, 2024
DeSantis on Wednesday declared emergencies in the counties of Broward, Collier, Lee, Miami-Dade, and Sarasota. Two people died and three were injured in a weather-related car accident in Collier County, The New York Times reported. The flooding closed part of Interstate 95 and limited flight schedules at two major airports, Miami International Airport and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted that the 2024 hurricane season, which began June 1 and ends on November 30, will be worse than normal.
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Amid Record Heat, Florida Meteorologist Rips GOP 'Don't Say Climate Change' Law
"We implore you to please do your research and know that there are candidates that believe in climate change and that there are solutions, and there are candidates that don't."
May 22, 2024
Amid what's shaping up to be the hottest May on record in Miami, one local South Florida TV meteorologist recently slammed new Republican legislation prohibiting the mention of climate change in state law and implored Floridians to vote for candidates who "believe in climate change" and solutions to the planetary emergency.
The new law, signed last week by Republican Gov. DeSantis, also deprioritizes climate considerations in policy decisions, promotes fossil fuel infrastructure development, and bans the installation of wind turbines in state waters. While signing the bill, the failed 2024 GOP presidential contender said Florida was "restoring sanity in our approach to energy and rejecting the agenda of the radical green zealots."
As South Floridians suffered record-breaking temperatures and a heat index that made it feel as hot as 110°F on Saturday, WTVJ meteorologist Steve MacLaughlin stood before a graphic showing that April was the 11th straight hottest month on record globally and said that Florida's government is "starting to roll back really important climate change legislation and really important climate change language."
This, despite the "record heat, record flooding, record rain, record insurance rates, and the corals are dying all around the state" in recent years, MacLaughlin continued. "The entire world is looking to Florida to lead in climate change and our government is saying that climate change is no longer the priority it once was."
While not mentioning DeSantis by name, MacLaughlin said: "Please keep in mind the most powerful climate change solution is the one you already have in the palm of your hand: the right to vote... We implore you to please do your research and know that there are candidates that believe in climate change and that there are solutions, and there are candidates that don't."
The so-called "Don't Say Climate Change" law signed by DeSantis is but the latest salvo in the right-wing governor's "war on woke" that includes rolling back LGBTQ+, student, migrant, reproductive, protest, First Amendment, and other rights and protections.
As the planetary emergency fuels hotter, more dangerous weather in Florida, DeSantis has also attacked the state's workers by signing a law prohibiting local governments from requiring employers to provide water breaks and other cooling measures.
"Workers in Florida will die in the Florida heat as a result of Gov. DeSantis' signing this bill," Public Citizen worker health and safety advocate Juley Fulcher said after the governor signed the law last month. "Denying any worker access to water or shade in the heat of summer is inhumane and cruel, yet Florida just allowed employers to do exactly that."
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Tax-Dodging Jeff Bezos to Save $610 Million With Move to 'Billionaire Bunker' in Florida
"If we had a national billionaire income tax, we'd collect that revenue no matter where he lived," said Americans for Tax Fairness.
Feb 13, 2024
Jeff Bezos, founder of the e-commerce behemoth Amazon and one of the richest men in the world, is poised to save at least $610 million in taxes by moving from Washington state to a hyper-exclusive Miami island that's been dubbed "Billionaire Bunker."
Bezos announced the move from Seattle—home to Amazon's headquarters—to Miami in an Instagram post on November 2. The previous month, Bezos purchased two mansions in Indian Creek Village for $68 million and $79 million. Other prominent figures, including retired NFL superstar Tom Brady and billionaire investor Carl Icahn, own properties on the island, which is only accessible to those with invites.
Bloomberg reported last month that "Bezos emissaries have reached out to at least three other homeowners on the island about purchasing their properties, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing private matters. Conversations are ongoing."
While Bezos didn't mention the potential tax savings as one of the reasons for his move, the announcement came after Washington state's new 7% capital gains tax on the sale or exchange of stocks and other assets worth more than $250,000 took effect after a lengthy court fight. The tax brought in far more revenue in its first year than supporters expected.
As CNBC reported Monday, Bezos has been selling Amazon shares nearly every year for more than two decades—but he stopped in 2022, the first year of Washington's new tax.
Now that he's in Florida, which doesn't tax income or capital gains, Bezos has resumed selling his Amazon stock, dumping around 12 million shares worth roughly $2 billion last week. CNBC pointed to recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings showing that Bezos has "launched a pre-scheduled stock-selling plan to unload 50 million shares before Jan. 31, 2025. At today's price, that would total more than $8.7 billion."
"On the $2 billion sale last week, he saved $140 million that he would have paid to Washington state," CNBC observed. "On the entire sale of 50 million shares over the next year, he will save at least $610 million. And that's assuming Amazon shares remain flat. If they continue to rise, the value of his shares—and his tax savings—will be even higher."
"If Bernie's Make Billionaires Pay Act was signed into law during the pandemic Bezos would have paid $42,800,000,000 more in taxes and everyone in America would have had healthcare as a right."
According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), Bezos' new home state has the most regressive tax system in the U.S.—a title that was held by Washington prior to the enactment of the 7% capital gains tax.
Bezos is currently worth around $197 billion, a number that can fluctuate significantly on a given day based on the movement of Amazon's stock price.
Warren Gunnels, staff director for U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), argued in a social media post late Monday that Bezos' exorbitant wealth cries out for more aggressive taxation at the federal level.
"If Bernie's Make Billionaires Pay Act was signed into law during the pandemic Bezos would have paid $42,800,000,000 more in taxes and everyone in America would have had healthcare as a right," Gunnels wrote, noting that revenue from the 2020 bill would have been enough for Medicare to fully pay out-of-pocket healthcare expenses for all Americans for a year.
Right-wing commentators, such as the Cato Institute's Scott Lincicome and FreedomWorks' Stephen Moore, used Bezos' move to suggest that taxing the wealthy only pushes them to move elsewhere in search of lower tax rates.
But ITEP research director Carl Davis told Common Dreams that "when you look at the data, there isn't much support for the view that high-income people are moving in meaningful numbers because of taxes." A 2016 study by Stanford University researchers found that while "millionaire tax flight is occurring," it is "only at the margins of statistical and socioeconomic significance."
"Without good data to back them up," said Davis, "the folks who want to use migration fears to argue against taxing the rich often end up relying on anecdotes to make their point."
Americans for Tax Fairness, a progressive advocacy group, wrote on social media Tuesday that "if we had a national billionaire income tax, we'd collect that revenue no matter where he lived."
"Billionaires can't quit America to avoid paying," the group added. "If they left, we'd collect a fortune in exit taxes."
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