Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson announced the preservation of Florida farmland through the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ Rural and Family Lands Protection Program. More than 386 acres of working agricultural land in Heart Bar Ranch in Osceola County is being preserved through a rural land protection easement for $2,600,000.

“Preserving an additional 386 acres of working farmland located within Heart Bar Ranch – a family farm that we worked with earlier this year to preserve over 3,000 acres of farmland – is yet another indicator that the Rural and Family Lands Protection Program is not only successful in its mission, but that generational farmers are eager now more than ever to participate in the program to help preserve important land in Florida,” said Commissioner Wilton Simpson. “These rural land protection easements strengthen our food security though the protection of prime agricultural land, keep the protected property on the local tax rolls, and require every property owner to maintain the land and its natural resources according to state standards.”

The Rural and Family Lands Protection Program purchases the development rights to the agricultural properties through voluntary rural land protection easements, which prevent the future development of the land and allow agriculture operations to continue to contribute to Florida’s economy and the production of food, timber, and other resources vital to the prosperity of Florida.

I hope everyone enjoyed their recent Labor Day festivities. Labor Day became a national holiday when Congress passed the bill, and President Grover Cleveland signed it into law, in 1894.

Traditionally, Labor Day is celebrated with parades, picnics, barbecues, speeches and other public gatherings. Over time, it has also come to mark the unofficial end of summer with many people taking advantage of the long weekend for vacations and family get-togethers. Unless you were born with a huge trust fund and don’t need to “labor”, we are all laborers.

We work to get the money we need to provide for ourselves and our families. Unfortunately, the elites and their minions in DC are not working with us but working against us in that endeavor. They are working feverishly to prop up a failed income/payroll tax system that harms all working people while at the same time giving them control over our lives.

The elites tell us:

1. That we are being irresponsible by not saving enough money for retirement while they continue to discourage us by taxing our savings and investment incomes.
2. That if we need more money we should simply work harder while they continue to prop up a tax system that discourages hard work by “rewarding “ that harder work with higher taxes.
3. That they are working to help American businesses and save American jobs while they refuse to replace a tax system that favors imports and sends our jobs overseas.
4. That the federal deficit and federal debt are nothing to worry about even though they lead to inflation that robs working people of their purchasing power.

All these problems can be eliminated by replacing our failed income tax system with the simple, transparent and efficient FAIRtax. The FAIRtax: Does not tax saving or investments Rewards hard work since there are no payroll taxes Keeps jobs at home and offers many more employment opportunities.

We, the people, the workers, control how much we pay in taxes under the FAIRtax through our spending habits. WE are in control, not a few DC elites. For more information please go to FAIRtax.org

Thank you friends for the privilege of serving in the Senate these past eight years.

Because of you, the citizens, your input has made Florida a much better state and in better condition than most of our country.

As I leave the Senate, I give thanks.

As we head to elections, please prepare and VOTE! So few exercise their freedom.  AND a FEW people can make a BIG difference!!

Onward and upward,

Senator Dennis Baxley

Senate District 13