SB 1692 – Relating to Corporate Income Tax
On Monday, March 25, SB 1692 by Senator Javier Rodriguez (D-Miami) was heard in the Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee and was reported unfavorable with 2 yeas and 2 nays. AIF’s Senior Vice President of State and Federal Affairs, Brewster Bevis, stood in opposition of this legislation.
Currently, corporations under a unitary business are not required to compute the total taxable income on a combined basis. Corporations that are members of an affiliated group have the choice of filing on a separate entity basis or as a consolidated group. This bill requires combined income reporting for the state’s corporate income tax. Corporations that are members of a unitary business are required to file a return combining all federal income from those entities and apportion the combined income to Florida based upon a statutory formula.
AIF opposes burdensome corporate tax increases that could hinder the growth of Florida corporations which provide jobs and economic growth to our state.
SB 1000 – Relating to Communication Services
On Tuesday, March 26, SB 1000 by Senator Travis Hutson (R-Palm Coast) was heard before the Senate Community Affairs Committee and was reported favorably with 4 yeas and 1 nay. AIF 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%. 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 both reduce the communications services tax and have a positive financial impact on Florida’s consumers, many of whom are businesses that pay for cable or satellite service.
