NASCAR and Publix will receive tax cuts in Florida. You get a higher toll

At the end of this past legislative session, the peeling headline above the front page of the Orlando Sentinel seemed to be accompanied by the sound of a sad trombone.

“As the session ends, the tax cuts collapse.”

Womp Womp.

It seemed sad for taxpayers. The governor and the GOP leader of Congress have spent several months committing you to tax relief. But then, Golined, they managed to not deliver.

Anyway, that’s not the case for you. But the special interest, well, they won a wealth of tax credits.

NASCAR recorded one on ticket sales. So was the case with Publix, a lease tax. The South Florida casino won one in slot machines.

Much of this was summarised in a follow-up story: “Desantis signs an austerity budget and saves Florida businesses nearly $1 billion in taxes.”

In summary, business lobbyists won $1 billion in tax savings while their efforts to provide relief collapsed.

But wait, there’s another heading that ran in the Sentinel last week.

It’s better to believe that all of this is connected. Look at what someone else has to pay when lawmakers give a pass to a business. And someone is usually you. If the state doesn’t collect enough money for the roads, road builders will have to find other ways to pay them.

That’s why Florida has more toll roads than any other state in the United States.

Many states are considering providing basic government functions on free-driving roads. Florida gives businesses tax deductions and then forces them to make up for one difference at a time at a constantly climbing rate.

Florida charges itself as a low tax condition. But that’s really a low tax situation for businesses.

The state does not collect income taxes on individuals as ordered by the Florida Constitution, but the state taxes kill residents in other ways.

Florida faces above average sales tax, large property taxes, some of America’s highest gas taxes, and up to a few miles.

why? Because tax burden is like pie. It should always be up to 100%. So when the company share of pie drops, it usually rises.

And in Florida, only about 1% of businesses pay corporate income taxes, and some of the tax burning pie continues to grow if lawmakers continue to cut other taxes they pay.

This past session, the largest tax credit, worth about $1 billion, was given to companies that previously paid taxes on their leases. That tax was curtailed after companies like Publix lobbyed for years to reduce tax bills. In 2023, five lobbyists pushed the Florida-based supermarket chain to reduce tax payments.

In fact, we can make a fair argument that this is a bad tax. Because they taxed businesses on the money they spend doing business, not the profits they enjoy. The problem is that Florida doesn’t collect a lot of taxes on profits. So this tax was one of the few taxes that actually made the company pay something. And now it’s gone.

NASCAR was awarded another tax cut and exempt from the sales tax imposed on tickets for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Homestead Miami Speedway. Some economists say it’s a more gift for NASCAR than fans. Because ticket sellers can jack the price and then keep all the money for themselves. In my mind, the more problematic is that some ticket-selling businesses are getting this break, but others aren’t, so it’s not a level playing field.

Gambling profits also scored tax credits, particularly cardrooms and casinos on horse trucks, where lawmakers cut everything from Paris-Muteel tax to slot machine licensing fees.

Meanwhile, the effort to provide direct relief to you, the average taxpayer, was largely filtered out, with only a highly targeted sales tax exemption granted on hurricane supply and purchases related to outdoor activities. Think bottled water and bug spray.

So you can save 24 cents on off cans! Publix saves millions on lease payments.

Welcome to Florida. Corporate lobbying is a joy here.

The GOP lawmakers also shot down another proposal to provide tax relief to real-life Floridians when they fell into the state’s tourist lobby and refused to allow the county to spend hotel taxes on services local people need, such as roads, transportation, police and affordable housing. By saving these taxes on tourism benefits, lawmakers force local taxpayers to bear tax burdens. Orange County leaders have repeatedly proposed raising taxes as they don’t keep state legislators from spending hotel taxes on pressing needs, so they’ve seen the results.

Of the two proposals that GOP lawmakers had floated to help Floridians every day, they abandoned them – one with merit.

Republican Speaker Danny Perez’s proposal to cut sales taxes across the state would have been a true regression tax relief that hits everyone.

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ proposal to reduce or eliminate property taxes collected by local governments was simply pointless. It’s like Publix, where Winn-Dixie declares that prices should be reduced.

The real problem is that these same lawmakers can’t afford to give you a meaningful relief.

So instead of getting relief, you get a higher sales tax, a higher gas tax and yet another toll.

©2025 Orlando Sentinel.