The Florida House Ways & Means Committee plans to introduce a $647.3 million tax cut package aimed at providing relief to businesses and individual taxpayers.
The Florida House Ways & Means Committee is scheduled to present a $647.3 million tax cut package on Wednesday, a figure significantly lower than the previous fiscal year’s $1.3 billion in tax breaks. The announcement comes amid forecasts of a tighter state budget for Fiscal Year 2024-2025.
The proposed package looks to offer relief to both businesses and individual taxpayers within the context of expected financial constraints, partly due to the cessation of federal pandemic aid. A provision within the package would reduce commercial lease tax rate from 4.5 percent to 1.25 percent for one year beginning July 1. If adopted, the reduction is projected to decrease state revenues by $268.3 million and affect local-government revenues by an additional $71.3 million.
The package also proposes a $10,000 credit against corporate income taxes for businesses that employ individuals with disabilities, with an anticipated $5 million reduction in state revenues.
The tax cut package includes several sales tax holidays aimed at benefiting consumers, including a single 14-day period for back-to-school purchases, such as clothing, school supplies, and computers, with projected savings of $97.3 million.
It additionally maintains two 14-day disaster-preparedness tax holidays, offering tax relief on essential items like batteries and generators during hurricane seasons.
Other components of the package include a seven-day tax holiday for work supplies such as tools, expected to save shoppers $19.8 million, and policy adjustments allowing Monroe County to utilize surpluses from tourist-development and tourist-impact taxes for affordable housing initiatives aimed at employees of tourism-related businesses.