Imagine the state gave you $75 million in tax money to invest in new businesses to create jobs. Imagine that, rather than creating jobs, the companies you invested in lost 174 jobs in the first four years. Imagine you got to keep all the money anyway, without ever having risked a penny of your own. Sound too good to be true?

That's the way CAPCO's work.

The program works through a complicated scheme. Insurance companies give venture capital firms $300 million to invest. In return, the state gives the insurance companies $300 million in tax credits over 10 years. The venture capitalists sink as much as half of the money in safe investments to pay back the insurance companies, with the rest going into small and start-up Florida businesses.

"It's a heck of a deal," said Florida Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher. "I think it's terrible public policy. We've got a lot more needs in this state than funding venture capitalists."

Tate Garrett, the 39-year-old senior vice president who runs Advantage's (a CAPCO) Florida office in Tampa, concedes that the program could mean upwards of $60 million in his and his associates' pockets, even if Advantage winds up investing poorly and their companies lose money.