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Tea Party Activist Takes Aim At Amendment 4

Absentee ballots are already in the mail, but a Central Florida Tea-Party activist is just launching his campaign to short-circuit Amendment 4, the Legislature’s renewable energy tax cut on the August 30 ballot.

Jason Hoyt was a young Republican before he jumped on the more conservative Tea-Party bandwagon. The author and talk-show host says he supports solar power, but not what he calls carve outs for special interest.

“Did the government subsidize the iPhone to make sure that we got iPhones to everybody for mobile devices and all that? No. But what they did was, the company itself invested heavily in greater technology.”

On Tuesday, Amendment 4 organizers rolled out endorsements from more than 160 industry and environmental groups and community organizations. Tory Perfetti, chair of the Floridians 4 Lower Energy Costs, says he’s not aware of organized opposition.

Perfetti says conservatives strongly back Amendment 4.

“You’ll never win everybody. However, there are no carve outs. There is simply removing onerous, highly regulated taxes which are impeding the growth to more options in energy in the state of Florida.”

Amendment 4 would give businesses the same property tax breaks that homeowners get when they install solar. The measure would also cut taxes that discourage rooftop solar leasing arrangements.

A Miami native, former WFSU reporter Jim Ash is an award-winning journalist with more than 20 years of experience, most of it in print. He has been a member of the Florida Capital Press Corps since 1992.