Smaller tax cuts, bigger Florida homeowner tax break

Floridians will see smaller tax cuts this year than earlier plans envisioned, but voters will have a chance to give some homeowners a property tax break by increasing the homestead exemption.

The Senate Appropriations Committee voted Monday to reduce the House's $298 million tax cut package to $75 million. The Senate changes include a reduction of the business rent tax from 6 percent to 5.8 percent, a smaller cut than the 1.5 percent rent tax proposed by the House.

The Senate also approved three tax holidays, versus the 10 offered by the House.

House and Senate leaders have agreed on the smaller tax package.

Rep. Jim Boyd, who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, said he and Sen. Kelli Stargel, R-Lakeland, chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Finance and Tax, agreed on the reduced amount over the weekend after considering the broad budget deal reached by House and Senate leaders.

"You always want more, but we felt like it was a good deal for taxpayers," said Boyd, R-Bradenton.

The tax cut package will go for a full Senate vote Tuesday and return to the House for final approval.

The tax cut package is one of many issues lawmakers needed to address as they finish negotiations on the $83 billion budget for next year.

The budget must be completed by Tuesday to have time for a constitutionally mandated 72-hour cooling off period before legislators vote on it.

Both chambers would then debate and vote on the budget by Friday, the last scheduled day of this year's session.

The proposed cuts are smaller than the $618 million package proposed by Scott. He proposed reducing the business rent tax to 4 percent and approving 23 sales tax holidays.

Sen. Jack Latvala, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said the smaller tax cut package would allow the Legislature to set aside $200 million more in reserves.

"Well, that's going to allow us to put some of that money away," said Latvala, R-Clearwater.

Still included is the elimination of the tax on feminine hygiene products, which was proposed by Sen. Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples.

"This common sense legislation will result in a tax savings for women all over the state who purchase these necessary products," Passidomo said. "Through this bill, Florida stands to join a number of states that currently exempt these items."

As part of budget negotiations, the Senate voted 28-10 in favor of a House resolution Monday that would allow voters to decide if homeowners should receive a $75,000 homestead exemption on their property.

That's $25,000 more than the current $50,000 deducted from a house's appraised value when property taxes are calculated each year. The issue does not require Scott's signature and will be added to the 2018 ballot.

Some Senate Democrats argued the increased tax exemption would cripple local government. But Sen. Lauren Book, D-Plantation, said those complaints are unfounded.

"We heard the same fears the last time we raised the exemption in 1981," Book said. "And nothing happened."

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