Florida Watch launched a new ad, placing the crosshairs on Governor Ron DeSantis for signing an online sales-tax bill that they say increases taxes for Floridians.
The ad, titled “Ron DeSantis just raised your taxes,” dropped on Tuesday and accuses the Governor of raising taxes after signing into law measure (SB 50) that would require out-of-state online retailers to collect sales taxes on purchases made by Floridians. The bill is estimated to bring in $1 billion a year in revenue.
The legislation drew the support of business groups who claim it isn’t a tax increase and that Florida retailers have been hurt by out-of-state businesses being able to sell products with tacking on taxes. Opponents, however, say the bill hurts consumers, requiring them to pay taxes without reaping the benefits.
“In the middle of the night, Governor DeSantis signed a law that will cost Floridians an estimated $1 billion a year, the narrator of the ad says. “The extra $1 billion you’ll be paying will only be used to cut taxes for already wealthy corporations.”
The video then cuts to broadcasts of others who opposed the legislation with many calling the new law a “regressive tax.”
“He [DeSantis] is implementing a regressive tax, meaning that it’s a tax that everyone has to pay into regardless of what their income is,” said Ana Kasparian from The Young Turks, a left-leaning news outlet, whose coverage appears in the video. She went on to say, “he gave businesses a tax cut while increasing taxes on consumers in the state.”
Florida Watch, a progressive research organization, also lambasted Republicans for “prioritizing tax breaks for their biggest donors” during the pandemic, citing work done by President Joe Biden and Democrats to provide relief to Americans.
“The bottom line is that DeSantis and Republicans raised your taxes to the tune of $1 billion a year so they could give even more kickbacks to their corporate donors,” said Josh Weierbach, Executive Director of Florida Watch. “They couldn’t be bothered to use billions in aid from the Biden Administration, provide more Floridians with health coverage during a pandemic or fix our broken unemployment system. But they did find time to raise your taxes.”
