Jeb Bush on Corporations Former Republican FL Governor

Hedge fund managers should pay taxes the same as others

BUSH: Of course, not. Private equity people and hedge fund folks that are, right now getting capital gains treatment for the income they earn, should pay ordinary income tax like everybody else. What we need is to reform the tax code to simplify rates.

We need to lower rates for small business AND big business

Free-market, pro-development, pro-growth philosophy

Stop rewarding portfolio Americans over paycheck Americans

Champion enterprise zones and business deregulation

In particular, licensing regulations often disproportionately hamper Hispanic businesses that tend to operate informally. Republicans should champion enterprise zones, deregulation of entry into occupations and businesses that require few skills and little capital, and lower business taxes. More important, they should engage Hispanic business and community leaders in identifying & eradicating barriers to enterprise. As Democrats continue compounding the inherent risks of small businesses by piling on taxes & regulations at every level of government, Republicans should be seen as ardent defenders of small businesses.

Auto bailout was government intervening; bank bailout was ok

Bush said that until the hearing, he hadn't been asked his opinion on the automotive bailout or the bank bailouts. He told the committee he didn't support the auto bailout--what he describes as "a form of capitalism where the government intervenes in a very muscular kind of way." The positions puts him in line with Romney. Bush did say, however, say that he thought some aspects of the bank bailout were necessary. Bush worked as a consultant for Lehman Brothers before its collapse, and currently serves as a senior adviser to Barclays Capital.

Touchdown Jacksonville: Bring pro football to Florida

$310M in stimulus money to start Scripps biotech facility

There was also a more general criticism of giving the money to an already successful entity like Scripps. The goal was not just the 500 jobs Scripps itself would create, but several thousand more generated by bio-tech firms that would want to locate in a science village Scripps would anchor.

In October 2003, he proclaimed: "Scripps is the brand name for biomedical research, and its decision to build a sister research facility in Florida is a seminal moment in our state's history."

Cutting taxes on job creators benefits everyone

1. Given Florida's poor rankings in various quality-of-life measures--the health and welfare of its children, the care of its elderly, the quality of its schools and colleges, etc.--were large tax cuts appropriate public policy?
2. Once you have decided that tax cuts were appropriate, was the intangibles tax the most appropriate one to cut?

The emphasis is not to cut taxes for everybody--[but to] cut proportionately more for the wealthy--or, in Bush parlance, the investor class, the risk takers, the job creators.

OpEd: Profited on Enron while FL lost $300M

Jeb was in effect the head of the 3-person state Board of Administration trustees who oversaw the pension fund and appointed its members. That made it Jeb's responsibility to protect that pension money, but he had other priorities.

Repeal the mandatory helmet law for motorcyclists

Fight corporate welfare: snouts out of public trough