Florida’s half-million employers received a surprise this week and it wasn’t a gift from Santa Clause. It was a tax notice from the Florida Department of Revenue advising employers their state payroll taxes were going up -- way up.

In a time of economic turmoil and uncertainty, small businesses are seeing their taxes increased on all fronts. Increases in state fees approved by Gov. Charlie Crist earlier this year are minuscule in comparison to the skyrocketing payroll taxes employers will face in 2010.

Next year, the minimum annual payroll tax per employee will jump from $100.30, to $459 per employee -- an increase of 78% over the prior year. Which begs the question. With Republicans in control of the state house, senate and governors mansion; how could such high taxes be levied on businesses when workers are struggling to keep their jobs?

When employees loose their jobs and receive unemployment benefits, those funds are paid out of the Florida Unemployment Benefits Trust Fund, which comes from state unemployment taxes each employer is required to pay.

If at anytime during the year the fund falls below 4%, it automatically triggers a recalculation of employers’ payroll taxes for the following year.

In August, the state fund used to pay unemployment insurance benefits went bankrupt. Since then, the state has been borrowing from the federal emergency fund at a rate of $300 million a month to pay benefits to Florida’s one million unemployed workers.

CFO Alex Sink, a former bank president and democratic candidate for governor, earlier this year advocated accepting $444 million in federal stimulus dollars to cover some of the shortfall, but never spoke publicly about the severity of the matter.

Meanwhile, Charlie Crist has touted his record as a “leader” who not only balanced the state budget, but reduced it. Crist won’t acknowledge a shortfall in revenue caused a decrease in the states budget, which is constitutionally required to be balanced -- he’d rather take credit for it himself.

In 2009, Florida’s unemployment insurance tax was 2.7% and applied only to the first $7,000 of wages. In 2010, employers will pay a whopping 5.4% for the first $8,500 of an employees wages; the maximum the state can charge by law.

As the number of unemployment claims continues to rise, Crist and Sink are flying coast to coast raising money from donors; many of whom are small business owners, fully aware these very same donors face a 78% tax hike.

Some employers say they will have to rethink their hiring strategy altogether. That’s the scenario for small business owners like Michael Pinson‘s, CEO of a book distribution company. In 2009, Pinson’s business paid $3,188 in taxes. Next year he’ll be paying $10,098 for the same number of workers.

Concerned about the $ 1 billion dollar tab the state’s racked up in recent months to replenish the UC fund, Pinson says he spoke to the governor directly about the issue during a private reception before Crist spoke at the Pinellas Co. REC meeting.

“I told the governor, I have the utmost respect for you, but why aren’t you speaking out about the unemployment compensation tax increase you approved?” Pinson said Crist told him, “It’s a federal issue, not a state issue, and if you can’t change something, why talk about it”.

Pinson said he approached Crist twice to get his question answered. “He’s running for Senate, so he should be addressing these issues and offering solutions on the state and federal level.”

The governor stood in a crowd and said Florida has a balanced budget when the unemployment compensation fund is bankrupt. Maybe Crist can explain how the state could be in debt with the federal emergency fund, if the budget is indeed balanced.