Workers at South Carolina BMW facility apply paint to vehicle | Courtesy BMW

Declaring that other Southeastern states "are eating our lunch," a leading industry group lauded Gov. Rick Scott's plan to phase out Florida's corporate income tax.

"It's an extraordinarily brilliant idea that sends a stronger message than just about anything else we can do," said Associated Industries of Florida President Barney Bishop.

"Companies [looking to relocate] want more than good weather. They want assurances," Bishop said in an interview with Sunshine State News.

Bishop pointed to South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama as neighboring states that landed major manufacturing facilities in recent years while Florida idled.

German and Asian automakers have sited or expanded plants in all four states, generating tens of thousands of jobs.

Since each of those states has some form of corporate income tax, Scott, a former health-care CEO, figures Florida can better compete by dropping its levy.

The governor wants to reduce the business tax rate from 5.5 percent to 3 percent initially and phase it out completely by 2018.

Enacted in 1972 under Gov. Reubin Askew, the tax pumped $1.8 billion annually into the state's general revenue fund last year. That's down slightly from an annual average of $2 billion.

"We already have a low business tax as compared to other states,'' Scott said in Tampa on Thursday. "I want to phase it out. If we do ... there is no reason anybody will want to do business in any other state.''

Sean Snaith, an economics professor at the University of Central Florida, said that while phasing out the tax "makes sense," he doubts that abolishing it will, in and of itself, boost Florida's economic-development prospects.

"It won't be a tremendous impact overall, but it sends a signal about the environment for business in Florida," Snaith said.

Bishop also applauded Scott for aggressively reaching out to companies that may be open to relocating. The governor says he makes "cold calls" to five or more corporate executives daily to talk up Florida's business climate.

"It's important to get chief executives talking to each other. That hasn't happened in the last four years," Bishop noted.

And those conversations don't have to be long to be successful, he added.

When Alabama lured the German steelmaking giant ThyssenKrupp, the deal was sealed in a 90-minute conversation with company executives, the governor and top legislative leaders, Bishop relates.

The key to landing Krupp was the state's assurance that the needed permits and certificates of occupancy would be issued in a "time-certain" fashion.

"[Florida] couldn't do that in 90 months, let alone 90 minutes," Bishop said.

The windfall for Mobile, Ala.: 35,000 new jobs at a new $5 billion steelmaking and processing plant -- one of the biggest ever foreign investments in the country.

Similarly, South Carolina moved quickly to land a second Boeing fabrication and delivery facility that will add 12,000 jobs.

"They got a time-certain guarantee on permits that will ensure their opening by 2015," Bishop said of Boeing's deal with the Palmetto State.

Snaith agreed that tax cuts are just one economic building block.

"Coupling them with permitting and efficiencies in government will likely affect business growth in the state," the professor said. "Government can work to grease the skids."

Scott's corporate background drilled in the axiom that time is money. So he moved quickly last month to create a consolidated commerce department, just two doors down from his Capitol office.