TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – There is fallout at the state Capitol over the plan to start collecting the tax due on internet sales.
Florida’s labor unions argue working people would pay the tax, while businesses would reap the benefit.
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The Florida Senate on Thursday voted 30-10 in favor of the bill. The vote was bipartisan, with seven Democrats joining Republicans to begin collecting the sales tax on internet purchases from out-of-state merchants.
But many of the votes came with an unwritten string attached: a commitment to look at unemployment benefits.
“I’m going to hold everyone to their commitment that we are going to get something really good done because guess what? If the benefit amount goes up and the number of weeks is more reasonable, our claimants and our constituents get more money,” said state Sen. Jason Pizzo, D-North Miami Beach.
Florida and Missouri are the only two states with a sales tax that does not actively collect the tax from out-of-state merchants.
The AFL-CIO is angry because the $1.3 billion a year would be paid by working families, but it would be used to lower premiums businesses pay for unemployment.
“It is the responsibility of the businesses to fund unemployment insurance,” said Rich Templin, with the Florida AFL-CIO.
Senate Minority Leader Gary Farmer, a Lighthouse Point Democrat, voted no.
“That was a tax giveaway to Florida’s largest, wealthiest corporations,” said Farmer.
But House Speaker Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, believes that lowering what businesses pay would help workers.
“And yesterday they paid $7 per employee for unemployment. Now they are looking at $8-7. That could be the difference between staying open and closing,” said Sprowls.
The Florida Senate Committee on Commerce and Tourism on Monday passed legislation that would increase the maximum weekly unemployment benefit from $275 to $375.
The House Commerce Committee backed a measure on Monday that would require out-of-state retailers to collect and remit the sales taxes, with the anticipated $1 billion a year in revenue now proposed to go toward replenishing the state’s Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund and to subsequently make a major cut in a tax on commercial rent.