According to Jeb’s new television ad, he’s not a fan of “politicians and self-promoters”—he prefers to “deliver.” Unfortunately for Jeb, when you look at his record, the only thing he’s delivered in the ad is a bunch of phony claims about his record. Could it be that Jeb himself is the biggest politician and self-promoter of them all?
Jeb’s Claim: “19 billion in tax cuts”
FACT: Jeb Bush bragged about cutting taxes by $19 billion in Florida, when in reality at least $6 billion of those cuts were enacted by his brother at the federal level. ”Bush regularly tells interviewers that as governor he cut state taxes by $19 billion. A review of state records by the publication Tax Analysts, however, found only $13 billion worth of cuts. The difference, according to PolitiFact Florida, an independent political fact-checking website, is that the campaign included what Floridians saved because of the elimination of the federal estate tax, which Bush’s brother, President George W. Bush, got through Congress in 2001.” [Bloomberg, 7/28/15]
Jeb’s Claim: “Cut spending, balanced budgets”
FACT: Orlando Sentinel: Jeb Bush benefitted politically “from Florida’s housing boom with his whopping $70.8 billion budget proposal that’s moored to a bounty of new tax receipts.” “Once a millionaire real estate developer, Gov. Jeb Bush is now profiting politically from Florida’s housing boom with his whopping $70.8 billion budget proposal that’s moored to a bounty of new tax receipts.” [Orlando Sentinel, 2/5/06]
Jeb’s Claim: “Led the nation in job creation”
FACT: Jeb Bush’s job creation rate “was the lowest of Florida’s past five governors.” “A strong state and national economy fattened Florida’s budget by 45 percent — from $49 billion when he took office to more than $71 billion this year. Bush credited his tax cuts for strong job growth, although the rate was the lowest of Florida’s past five governors.” [Miami Herald, 12/17/06]
FACT: Jeb Bush built Florida’s economy on the housing bubble, causing the state’s economic gains to be “wiped out in the four years after he left office, once the bubble burst.” “When you account for the role of housing, Bush’s economic record looks a lot more mixed. Almost all of the gains he talks up today, including three-fifths of the job creation, were wiped out in the four years after he left office, once the bubble burst.” [Washington Post, 6/16/15]
- After Jeb Bush left office, Florida averaged -2.4 percent growth, as opposed to the 0.3 percent national average. “The most striking stat, though, is growth. Under Bush, Florida indeed averaged 4.4 percent growth per year, after adjusting for inflation; at the same time, the nation averaged 3 percent growth. In the four years after Bush left office, as housing prices tumbled and recession set in, the nation averaged 0.3 percent growth. Florida averaged -2.4 percent.” [Washington Post, 6/16/15]