International Trade Today is a Warren News publication.

Fla. Senate Panel Advances Bill to Reduce Comms Tax

A bill to reduce Florida’s communications services tax by 1.44 percentage points cleared the Regulated Industries Committee at a webcast Tuesday hearing. SB-1432 would reduce the Florida CST to 3.48% from 4.92% for communications services. Under an amendment adopted Tuesday,…

Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article

If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.

it would reduce by the same amount the tax for direct-to-home satellite service to 7.63% from 9.07%. The bill would also freeze local government CSTs at 2023 rates for three years. Florida TaxWatch President Dominic Calabro applauded the bill. "We're going to reduce one of the most regressive state and local taxes we have.” Florida Association of Counties don’t object to reducing the state tax, but counties use distributions from the tax for local projects and want to be “held harmless” for the reduction, said Deputy Director Bob McKee. He said the tax reduction would reduce state revenue by $19.3 million annually. Sponsor Sen. Jay Trumbull (R) disagreed that his bill would disadvantage counties. “It's just time to reduce the tax on tech.” The House has a similar bill (HB-1153).