Don’t Throw More Money into a 20th Century System

By: Jennifer Hatcher, Senior Vice President, Public and Government Affairs, Food Marketing Institute 

FMI invited Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) to join food retail senior executives at an FMI FoodPAC function during the Midwinter Executive Conference for his economic perspective on the third largest state in the U.S., Florida. In his initial address, Sen. Rubio focused on three main themes impacting the U.S. economy: global competition for business talent; investing in 20th century skills in a 21^st Century business environment; and poverty.

Sen. Rubio was intent on addressing anti-poverty programs and the role the U.S. government can play in helping people out of poverty, especially by creating better paying jobs and ensuring high-school graduates are ready to go to work if they choose not to pursue higher education.

The senator is also a strong advocate for regulatory reform, most recently working with FMI to write U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Margaret Hamburg and urging FDA to develop a common sense menu labeling rule that does not put unnecessary burdens in place.  He outlined a robust plan to the FMI group on how the government should work on a reliable estimate for how much regulatory reform costs our country. He simply encouraged a cost-benefit analysis. 

When FMI members asked the senator about tax reform, he said “We need a competitive tax code; we need to have business taxes that incentivize you to invest in America.”

Sen. Rubio further noted, “You can’t divorce the personal rate from the corporate rate when you talk about raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans.” The senator went on to emphasize that shifting the U.S. to a territorial system – one where only domestic income is taxed – would actually lower taxes on business, making them more competitive and creating jobs. Sen. Rubio has drafted legislation that would do just that – move the U.S. from its current worldwide system to a territorial one.

FMI Midwinter Executive Conference Chair and Publix CEO Ed Crenshaw cajoled the senator about his plans to run for the general election in 2016, to which Sen. Rubio replied, “You’ll know after I tell my wife…”