HB 7097 – Relating to Taxation

On Wednesday, March 11, HB 7097, sponsored by the House Ways & Means Committee, was heard in the Senate Appropriations Committee and passed with 20 yeas and 0 nays. AIF’s Senior Vice President of State and Federal Affairs, Brewster Bevis, stood in support of this legislation.

The bill provides for several tax reductions and other tax-related modifications designed to directly impact both families and businesses. Specifically, the bill provides for a 0.5 percentage point reduction in the state communications services tax. Several provisions related to sales tax are included:

• A reduction in the tax rate for commercial property rentals from 5.5% to 5.4%;
• A three-day “back-to-school” tax holiday for certain clothing, school supplies, and personal computers; and a seven-day “disaster preparedness” tax holiday in May and June of 2020 for specified disaster preparedness items;
• A requirement that School Capital Outlay sales surtaxes approved in the future be proportionately shared with charter schools;
• A change in distributions made under the Tax Collection Enforcement Diversion Program; and
• Future sunset of the Charter County and Regional Transportation System Sales Surtax currently levied in Miami-Dade County, and a requirement that any future levy of the tax in any eligible county be limited to 20 years in duration.

The bill also provides for a one-time increase of $8.2 million available for the brownfields tax credit program and includes a provision that amends the calculation of a taxpayer’s “final tax liability” for purposes of calculating certain corporate income tax refunds.

HB 7097 will now go to the Senate floor.

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