TALHASSEE – The Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives recommended that his chamber cut the state’s sales tax from 6% to 5.25%, making it “the largest state tax cut in Florida’s history.”
In a surprising announcement Wednesday, R-Miami’s Daniel Perez spoke about reducing state sales taxes will save Floridians nearly $5 billion each year.
“This is not a temporary measure, stunts, or tax leave,” Perez told lawmakers. “This will be a permanent, repeated tax cut.”
Perez said it was a move to make the state more affordable.
“We often talk about ways to improve affordability in Florida. Our strategy usually involves spending money on more government programs,” Perez said. “But this year, by giving Florida people your own money, we’ll try out new concepts and make Florida more affordable.”
Such a move must be agreed by Full House and the Senate by the time this year’s session is scheduled to end on May 2nd.
The announcement came as Gov. Ron DeSantis proposed to eliminate property taxes. This is the idea that lawmakers still don’t support it. Desantis is also proposing regular sales tax holidays, including those that are tax-free for guns and ammunition for six weeks.
Reducing sales taxes collected by state and local governments will have a direct impact on all Floridians. Florida taxes are considered the most regressive in the country, according to a left-leaning laboratory on tax and economic policy.
But it’s not clear how state lawmakers can afford such a massive cut. Lawmakers were warned in December by state economists that they would have to cut their $10 billion spending over the next three years.
Perez said Wednesday “the state government has a spending problem,” and that the House will be proposing a budget smaller than the previous year’s budget for the first time since the Great Recession.
“Our budget will not only be lower than the governor’s proposed budget, but it will be lower than the budget passed in the previous legislature,” Perez said.
He also delved into “the sky is falling” and “special interests” due to the small budget.
“The beneficiaries of the state budget are an endless stream of lobbyists and vendors who have always had some shiny new things to buy for states that don’t actually improve the lives of Florida people,” Perez said.
This is a developing story. Please check for updates.
