HB 7123 – Relating to Taxation

On Thursday, April 25, HB 7123, sponsored by the House Ways and Means Committee, was read on the House floor and passed with a vote of 69 yeas and 44 nays.

The bill provides for several tax reductions and other tax-related modifications designed to directly impact both families and businesses. Specifically, this bill provides:

• A reduction in the tax rate for commercial property rentals from 5.7% to 5.35%,
• A three-day “back-to-school” holiday for certain clothing, school supplies, and personal computers, and
• A seven-day “disaster preparedness” holiday for specified disaster preparedness items. Regarding property taxes, the bill includes the following:
• The timing of payments to local governments in fiscally constrained counties and Monroe County to offset property tax refunds granted to homeowners due to hurricanes in 2016 and 2017 would be slightly delayed in fiscal year 2019-20 to allow for the related state appropriation to be based on actual data, instead of an estimate.
  
  

HB 7173 is now in Senate messages.

AIF supports legislative actions that reduce taxes on businesses which allows further growth and employment opportunities.