Spot check

Editor's note: To help voters evaluate political ads, Times reporters review and analyze content.

SPONSOR: Citizens for a Tax Rollback Inc., a newly formed "issue advocacy" group. It favors Senate President John McKay's proposal to ask voters to change the tax system by lowering the sales tax and applying it to nearly 100 services that are now untaxed.

THE AD: A smiling young couple moves in slow motion, and the words "cut your sales tax 25% . . ." crawl across the screen. A narrator says: "There's a plan in Tallahassee that would allow us to roll back the sales tax by 25 percent, saving Florida families up to $500 per year. Guess who's against it? Lawyers, accountants, the special interests and their lobbyists. You see, they all have their own tax loopholes and sweetheart deals. But they don't want us to vote on a tax cut. Call Speaker Tom Feeney. Tell him it's time we get the chance to vote on cutting the sales tax. It's only fair."

ANALYSIS: Like those anti-McKay ads that have run on TV and radio for weeks, this ad tells only half the story. It mentions only the upside of McKay's proposal, not the downside. True, McKay's plan would roll back the sales tax by 25 percent, subject to voter approval. McKay's economic consultant says wealthier families would save up to $500 a year because they consume more and pay more taxes. But nowhere is the viewer told that McKay also wants to tax many services, such as accounting, dry cleaning, cab fares and residential pest control. The ad takes a simplistic, us-versus-them approach by showing lobbyists waving fistfuls of cash at the camera. It's a political ad, after all, not an op-ed piece, but this spot contributes little to the debate.

Is the ad working? It may be too early to tell. Feeney's spokeswoman, Kim Stone, said the office got "25 or 30" phone calls Thursday in favor of the McKay plan, but none Friday. For the past two weeks, she said, calls have been running solidly against McKay's plan.

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