Jacob Ogles
On the 102 days of negotiations about what taxes in Florida to slash, legislative leaders unveiled almost its tax package for the coming fiscal year. Nearly $1.3 billion in savings were included, some with revenue costs in the hundreds of millions and others delivering much smaller sums.
The biggest tax savings come with the repeal of Florida’s business rent tax. Florida for years has been the only state to assess a tax, 2% last year, on business leases. Killing the levy will mean a collective cut in general revenues of $904.8 million.
The legislature also plans to make a back-to-school sales tax holiday on most clothing and school supplies permanent. It has been authorized by Legislature most years since 1998. Senate President Ben Albritton said he wants it to happen every year now, meaning a recurring cut to state revenues. This year, that means a loss of $167.7 million.
Several sales tax exemptions on products for storm preparedness made the budget. A tax exemption for certain batteries will cost the state $58.5 million, one on ground anchors and gas cans will cost $22.3 million, and one on tarps brings a price to the state of $14.4 million. Losing taxes on power generators will mean losing $6.2 million in revenue.
Along similar lines, the state will exempt smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and alarms, meaning a cut of $12.5 million worth of taxes.
In a push for more outdoor tourism, lawmakers included in the budget a one-time sales tax holiday on hunting, fishing and camping supplies, running from Sept. 8 to Dec. 31. That will mean a $34.6 million loss in general revenue next year.
Meanwhile, the state will permanently exempt several outdoor recreational safety items. One on bike helmets will cut sales tax revenue by $1.8 million, while an exemption for purchasing life jackets has a price to the state of $1.4 million. A permanent exemption on sunscreen and insect repellant, meanwhile, brings an $8 million hit to the budget.
Tickets to state parks will now be free of sales, cutting $2 million from the state budget. Tickets to NASCAR events also will now become tax free, which will have a minimal budget impact.
Additionally, Florida will eliminate any sales taxes on the sale of gold, silver or platinum bullion, erasing a $500 threshold on sales at a cost of $1.6 million in annual general revenue.
Beyond these changes in state sales tax, the Legislation also granted power to local governments to reduce or repeal any discretionary local sales taxes on the books.
The budget also includes a Home Away From Home tax credit, providing credit to a business that makes a monetary contribution to an eligible charitable organization. That will mean a $13.2 million hit to revenue next year.
The state also will follow through with a beverage tax distribution started in 2023. That will directly benefit cancer research at the University of Miami, Mayor Clinic and University of Florida, but cost the state $28.5 million in general revenue.
The Legislature will exempt charitable trusts in the state from paying a corporate income tax, eliminating $1.1 million from the budget.
An aviation fuel tax was phased out of the budget at a cost of $2.2 million, though that will be offset this year with $1.5 million in non-recurring revenues still being collected. Lawmakers also decided to put off charging a natural gas tax from next year until 2030. There will also be no taxes assessed for the purchase of flight simulators previously owned by the government
A Rural Communities Investment Program authorizing the Commerce Department to dole out credits on corporate and insurance premium taxes could cost the state up to $7 million, which appropriators accommodated in the budget.
And while the Legislature did not ultimately make any moves to repeal or rebate property tax revenues, as proposed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, the state did set $1 million from revenues in on-time costs to study that issue. The budget also distributed $500,000 to reimburse fiscally restrained counties for damage to properties in 2024 storms.
The budget includes cutting a pari-mutuel tax on cardrooms by 2%, which will mean $2.5 million in savings for gamblers. The budget also includes other tax changes involving pari-mutuels with minimal effects on the budget overall. Those include eliminating slot market licensing fees, applying live racing requirements on bets at tracks.
A local incentives program on enterprise zones vested before the end of 2021 was extended through the end of 2035, and a freeze on a local communications service tax will now last until 2031.
A number of property tax exemptions related to the Live Local Act on land dedicated for affordable housing were extended, in some cases for close to a century. The budget also extends an education exemption to property leased by a gold seal-certified childcare facility.
Agricultural property tax exemptions were expanded for citrus farming, packing and processing.
Regarding tourist development taxes, the budget allows fiscally constrained counties on the Gulf coast to direct bed tax revenue to infrastructure and all coastal counties to spend the money on beach lifeguards.
