Gov. Ron DeSantis hailed Florida's economic success and fiscal responsibility while subtly jabbing at California and New York on theirs during a press conference in Southwest Florida on Friday.
"As you know, we've consistently been ranked as the top economy in the country of all 50 states over the last two years by multiple publications. That has been the case if you look at GDP growth since I took office. We've grown in Florida by over 30% [with] our state's economy," DeSantis said. "We would be, I think, the 13th or 14th largest economy in the world if we were our own country, and our growth rate exceeds every large state."
Ron DeSantis added more praise to the status of Florida's economy in his tenure.
"We continue to be number one in new business formations. Continue to have a strong triple-A credit rating. We have added jobs 52 [of] the last 56 months in the private sector. For the 50th month in a row, our unemployment rate has been lower than the national average, and our year-over-year, private sector job growth rate has exceeded the nation's job growth rate for 40 consecutive months," DeSantis said.
In what has become a bit of a boxing match in recent years, DeSantis also jabbed at California over its economy, particularly over the Golden State's income and sales tax compared to Florida's. DeSantis has often gone toe-to-toe- with California Gov. Gavin Newsom on who runs their state best.
"California has the stiffest income tax of all 50 states. I think it gets up to like 13-something percent. Florida has no income tax for anybody, and so we're obviously better there. But you say, Oh, well, you don't have an income tax, but you have a sales tax. But get this, even though California has the highest income tax, their sales tax is higher than Florida's, their sales tax is the highest in the United States of America," DeSantis said.
DeSantis also shaded California for having high gas prices. According to AAA, California's gas prices are $1.59 over the national average. By comparison, Florida is right about on the national average.
"California has the highest gas prices in the entire United States of America. They're averaging about five bucks a gallon. We're averaging about three bucks a gallon right now. Obviously, we know that can fluctuate, but the delta between the two is always and it's because of their taxes and regulations and all the policies they put on," DeSantis said.
Another common ire to Florida, DeSantis called out New York while boasting about Florida's fiscal responsibility and his handling of the state's budget. DeSantis said since Florida became a state in 1845, his administration has paid off 41% of its debt.
In his remark, DeSantis mentioned Florida as having the lowest debt per capita in the country, noting the average debt for a Floridian is $660 while emphasizing the federal debt's $36 trillion price tag having a $100,000 burden on every U.S. citizen.
"New York now has millions fewer people than we do. They always had more people than us, until relatively recently, and then we were kind of comparable. Now we're over 23 million. They're around 19, 19 and a half million. And yet, with millions of more people, our budget is less than half of their budget," DeSantis said.
He continued touting Florida's fiscal stewardship while mentioning the state's educational success and infrastructure to include having better roads. DeSantis also wondered where all the money was going in states like New York while at the same time treating taxpayers so unfairly.
"I think those states that are really high tax, what ends up happening is the organs of the government themselves become constituents to the money going to, you know, this group or that group, or the union. They end up really controlling the government, not for the overall public interest, but for those specific discrete interests," DeSantis said.
"We do it much different. We're really focused on what's in the public's interest, and making sure that we're hitting these things in a big way," DeSantis added.
