Jim Rosica
The Florida Department of Revenue now wants to eliminate what one critic called a “hilariously absurd regulation”: The state’s vending machine sticker requirement.
The department included the recommendation in its yearly list of suggestions for new laws. The list will go before Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet at their next meeting.
State law requires each machine to be registered for sales tax purposes, and carry a notice — almost always a sticker —with the following language:
“FLORIDA LAW REQUIRES THIS NOTICE TO BE POSTED ON ALL FOOD AND BEVERAGE VENDING MACHINES. REPORT ANY MACHINE WITHOUT A NOTICE TO (TOLL-FREE NUMBER). YOU MAY BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CASH REWARD. DO NOT USE THIS NUMBER TO REPORT PROBLEMS WITH THE VENDING MACHINE SUCH AS LOST MONEY OR OUT-OF-DATE PRODUCTS.”
“Florida law imposes a $250 penalty on each vending machine that does not display the notice,” according to the department.
Of course, as Revenue points out in its recommendation, people do exactly what the sticker asks them not to do.
“The notice requirement has not increased tax compliance and most calls received on the toll-free number are to report machine malfunctions and problems with the vending machine items,” the department says.
Moreover, as Radley Balko once pointed out on his The Agitator blog, the sticker’s purpose — to signal users that a given machine is registered — is kind of a Catch-22.
“… If a vending machine is in violation of the notice requirement, there’s no notice to notify the consumer that the machine is in violation,” he wrote back in 2012. “And there’s no number posted for the consumer to call.
“The only way this serves any purpose whatsoever is if you have a consumer who sees the notice on a compliant machine, then goes to the effort of writing it down and keeping it on his person at all times, in case he happens upon a non-compliant machine,” he wrote.
Put another way, Balko said, the law is about “requiring the (vending machine) owner to post a notice about the requirement to post a notice.”
The governor and Cabinet meet Tuesday, starting at 9 a.m.
