SB-50<\/a>) that would require out-of-state online retailers to collect sales taxes, with the money slated to be used to help Florida business owners avoid increases in unemployment taxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIt would add a 6% tax to online purchases, making out-of-state retailers responsible for giving that money back to the State of Florida. This is already something Floridians are supposed to pay, but most people either don\u2019t know about it or don\u2019t pay it because it isn\u2019t strongly enforced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Florida economists estimate this tax would bring in around $1 billion each year if it passes. The money would replenish the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund, which took a hit during the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It could be an incentive for employers to hire more people, one economist said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The tax could also be a new revenue stream to partially \u2013 or completely \u2013 replace the taxes that employers pay for the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the Florida Chamber of Commerce, they believe the bill would work and get more people back in the workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe main benefit is that businesses aren\u2019t going to have this big tax increase that they otherwise would have had. And so that\u2019s going to allow them to rehire employees or get more employees hired, so we think that\u2019s a win-win for all Floridians,\u201d said Carolyn Johnson, the director of business, economic development and innovation policy at the Florida Chamber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It isn\u2019t a win-win for State Rep. Anthony Sabatini, R-Howey in the Hills, who believes the bill is a short-term fix to a long-term problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe amount of money that we pull in is only going to be used over the next couple of years to pay down the Florida Unemployment Compensation Fund. So, it is a temporary tax cut attached to a permanent tax increase,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some other representatives feel this would be a tax loophole, allowing the state to properly collect taxes that they aren\u2019t now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Paying an online sales tax in Florida is one step closer to reality. The state Senate approved a proposal (SB-50) that would require out-of-state online retailers to collect sales taxes,… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":48043,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,32],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48042"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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