flock to it are often on the run from other parts of the country. It is the last stop. However, detectives across the state explain the phenomenon somewhat differently. They call it the "grease-trap theory," because when the weather up north starts turning cold, the criminals start moving south.
Another reason why Florida attracts crime is because it has always billed itself as being more of a paradise than it is. For example, as early as 1908, in an attempt to raise money to drain large portions of the Everglades, the state of Florida sold half a million acres of marsh to a man named Richard Bolles. The price was two dollars an acre. Bolles then turned around and sold 10-acre parcels to northerners for $240 a piece, and he promised a lottery for the very best parcels. Nearly 5,000 people came to his office in Fort Lauderdale only to discover that the land they had bought was entirely under water.
The point of this story is that Florida, instead of using taxes or other levies to raise money for public works, tried to do it on the sly--and because the weather is beautiful and the cost of living is cheap--many people believed the pitch. Even today, Florida continues to promote fantasy. The slogan of the state printed on promotional brochures is: "The rules are different here."
Indeed, the rules are. There is no income tax, no inheritance tax, and each homeowner qualifies for a $25,000 homestead exemption on property bought in the state. There is a six percent sales tax but the state has exempted services from it--and Florida is the most service-oriented state economy in the country. According to Buddy McKay, Florida's lieutenant governor, Florida had been promoted in the 1960s and 1970s as having "cheap labor, low taxes, and laid-back government," and unfortunately the state is stuck with that image -- and the crime that seems to come with it.
The latest tourist murders have taken a toll on Florida's most i...