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Florida House Unanimously Passes Bill to Permanently Cut State Sales Tax Rate

The Florida House voted unanimously on Wednesday to approve legislation that would permanently reduce the state’s general sales tax rate, advancing a measure projected to significantly lower state and local revenues beginning next year.

The bill, HB 7031, would lower the state’s general sales tax rate from 6 percent to 5.25 percent, effective July 1, 2025. The legislation also reduces several other state sales tax rates by 0.75 percentage points to align with the general reduction.

Under the proposal, the commercial rent tax would drop from 2.0 percent to 1.25 percent, the tax on electricity from 4.35 percent to 3.6 percent, the tax on new mobile home sales from 3.0 percent to 2.25 percent, and the tax on coin-operated amusement machines from 4.0 percent to 3.25 percent. The bill also includes technical changes to update formulas used to calculate sales taxes on vending and amusement machines.

According to a legislative analysis, the bill would reduce general revenue by an estimated $4.89 billion annually and local government revenue by $539.7 million and sales tax is Florida’s largest source of state funding, accounting for nearly 74 percent of general revenue.

Florida’s general sales tax rate has remained at 6 percent since 1988, when the Legislature last increased the rate following the repeal of a short-lived tax on services. The tax was first adopted in 1949 and has since become the largest single source of recurring revenue for the state.

The legislation was sponsored by the House Ways & Means Committee and reflects a priority announced in March by House Speaker Daniel Perez.

Senate passes budget with $50M in priority funding for farmers, fighting hunger

'With this funding we can identify underserved areas, especially in rural areas, and expand distribution and transportation routes.'

The Senate has passed a budget that includes $50 million in priority funding for farmers, addressing food insecurity.

The funding was included in the Senate’s General Appropriations Act (SB 2500) and was also a priority for Senate President Ben Albritton.

“As I travel the state, attacking food insecurity unites Floridians like nothing else can. Food matters. The fact is no matter how prosperous our state is, unexpected and unplanned things happen that can cause food insecurity for families,” Albritton said.

“That reality resonates with people from all walks and at every stage of life. No one wants their neighbor, especially a child or senior, to go to bed hungry. This initiative is about connecting hungry families with farmers who produce fresh, wholesome food — a much-needed hand-up for families when it matters most.”

Of the $50 million included in the Senate proposed budget, $12 million funds a grant program expanding food banks and pantries serving food insecure Floridians currently disadvantaged by their distant proximity to services. The Food Bank Infrastructure Expansion Grants are administered by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS).

Bill to safeguard election integrity in Florida ready for Senate floor

'There is a compelling state interest to put reasonable regulations in place that are directly responsive to the issues that came up.'

The Senate Fiscal Policy Committee passed a measure by a 15-4 vote Tuesday that seeks to safeguard the integrity of the initiative petition process that proposes changes to the State Constitution.

Pensacola Republican Sen. Don Gaetz and Fort Pierce Republican Sen. Erin Grall presented the bill (SB 7016) and explained that the legislation was the result of a report that showed there was fraud committed during the 2024 election in Florida.

“Senator Grall and I actually did not want to sponsor this bill because we did not want the state to need this bill,” Gaetz said. “Florida’s elections are a model for America, our Supervisors of Elections called the 2024 election their gold standard. But there’s one stain on Florida’s election integrity, and it’s deep, and it’s broad, and it’s ugly.”

Gaetz said that there have been attempts to undermine the rights of citizens, and that there are sponsors who are trying to “buy the people’s Constitution.”

“Bad actors have undermined and corrupted the right of citizens to amend their own state constitution,” Gaetz said. “Under the system we have now, Mr. Chairman, sponsors of proposed amendments are trying to buy the people’s constitution. The price of even a failed amendment is now over $30 million. Some out-of-state contractors and too many of their paid petition circulators, routinely are committing fraud, deception, and criminality.”

Bankers balk at antidiscrimination language in Florida Farm Bill

Financiers fear that language targeting ESG-based decisions just opens the door to more complaints.

A final Senate committee has advanced priority legislation of Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, but not without suggestions for improvement from the financial community on the Florida Farm Bill (SB 700).

It comes down to lending and providing financial services.

Anthony DiMarco of the Florida Bankers Association objected to a provision in the legislation that would incentivize the trial bar to exercise a private right of action to banks accused of discriminating against farmers. It would stop banks from debunking medical marijuana companies, he added, and would lead to other groups demanding the same right.

That provision, called the “Florida Farmer Financial Protection Act,” creates what would seem to be a narrow window for lawsuits, roping in language about environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors.

It says a “financial institution may not discriminate in the provision of financial services to an agriculture producer based, in whole or in part, upon an ESG factor.” It also says that “any ESG commitment” made by a lender related to agriculture creates an “inference” of violation and compels the lender to demonstrate that its position was “based solely on documented risk analysis, and not on any ESG factor.”