About time we discussed this a bit...
I will start with Byron Donalds. Aside from his terrible overly exposed ad campaign that says almost nothing about issues but instead plays on his image building (wife, kids, mom, poor upbringing...), he also ties his wagon to DeSantis and Trump. Not one independent minded position in his pronouncements.
Today in Jax, he provided these non-answer and/or parroted answers:
QuoteJACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Republican Congressman and Florida gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds addressed several issues affecting Jacksonville during a roundtable discussion focused on affordability.
During his stop in Jacksonville, Donalds was asked about affordable housing, the Jacksonville Transportation Authority's financial challenges, and the potential impact of Amendment 3 on cities across Florida.
On housing, Donalds said he believes local and state governments need to streamline the permitting process to help increase the supply of affordable housing.
"It does start with governmental permitting operations at the local level and at the state level. They've got to be modernized. We modernize them, shrink those timelines down, it helps us to be able to deliver more affordable housing in the state," Donalds said.
This is coded language to developers, I have your back. I will continue to let you roll over local governments to build whatever and wherever you want. The heck with local zoning, planning and land use rules.
Nothing here about affordability, supporting low income housing, increasing density in areas already developed, fighting Trump's tariffs, immigration and energy moves that are raising construction costs beyond the pale...
Regarding the JTA deficit, it appears he knows almost nothing about it per the below wishy-washy answer. My concern is the lack of honesty to admit he isn't familiar with the details. Giving glib answers on the fly on any subject is the sign of a politician telling you what you want to hear, not being interested in studying an issue and taking a thoughtful leadership position.
Quote"We want to make sure that these agencies have a consistent ability to operate and deliver on the mission that they were created to do in the first place, so if we're going to have to go through and trim some operations and make some adjustments we will do that, because at the end of the day we have to be mindful of the taxpayer who pays for all of it," Donalds said.
Regarding Amendment 3:
Quote"Government, what we're doing is spending other people's money. But the people whose money that we're taking through taxes ... their budgets have not grown, and we have to respect the taxpayer," Donalds said.
Yes, we are taking peoples money. But, we are giving it back in services and amenities that no one else can deliver as effectively. Government may not be perfect but neither is the private sector. There is a reason governments have existed from the beginning of time and it is because there is no better way to get community benefits delivered more appropriately.
Donalds says nothing about the likely impact of increased taxes on businesses and landlords/tenants to replace the lost revenue from homeowners and the impact it would have on lower income people. Again, this is just another bone to throw to Realtors (who are spending $18 million to support Amendment 3) and housing builders (who are not going to lower selling prices or build cheaper homes with this but rather build more expensive homes since buyers will redeploy tax savings into bigger and fancier houses that generate fatter home builder profits).
Low income people either rent, missing out on this and getting harmed as their landlords pay more taxes, or have houses of lower values such that they will benefit from the tax savings far less than those in more expensive homes. Any fees (which are not deductible for Federal income tax like property taxes) cities and counties implement will also harm lower income people more, along with cutbacks in services and amenities that low income people will have more difficulty replacing.
Quotes at: https://www.wokv.com/news/local/byron-donalds-weighs-housing-jta-finances-amendment-3-during-jacksonville-stop/ZLVXXFBV3ZHJDNII23GTZKEETM/