SB 1000 – Relating to Communication Services Taxes 

On Tuesday, March 12, SB 1000 by Senator Travis Hutson (R-Palm Coast) was heard before the Senate Innovation, Industry, and Technology Committee and was reported favorably with 9 yeas and 0 nays. AIF’s Senior Vice President of State and Federal Affairs, Brewster Bevis, stood in support of this legislation. 

This bill reduces the state tax on general communications services from 4.92% to 3.92%, and on direct-to-home satellite services from 9.02% to 8.07% and also revises the authority for municipalities and counties to impose permit fees on communications providers that use municipal or county roads or right-of-ways. This bill eliminates all the current provisions on local governments electing whether to require and collect permit fees and effectively freezes local government elections on collection of permit fees, providing that a municipality or county that chose to impose permit fees on or before January 1, 2019, may continue to impose such fees, while a municipality or county that did not impose permit fees as of January 1, 2019, may not impose such fees. 

SB 1000 will now move to the Senate Finance and Tax Committee.  

AIF supports legislation that will reduce the communications services tax and have a positive financial impact on all consumers in Florida who pay for cable or satellite service.