Politics
House proposes slashing state sales tax for $5B consumer savings
House Speaker Daniel Perez wants Florida to become the only state in the nation to permanently reduce its sales tax, proposing on Wednesday a 0.75% cut to bring the state sales tax from its current 6% to 5.25%.
“This will not be a temporary measure; a stunt or a tax holiday. This will be a permanent, recurring tax reduction,” Perez said during remarks to the House Chamber.
The decrease is expected to save Floridians $5 billion per year, according to Perez.
Perez said it would be the largest tax cut in state history.
“We have forgotten a fundamental truth – this money isn’t ours. Tax dollars don’t belong to the government, they belong to the people,” Perez said.
He made the point that while the Legislature in recent history has “justifiably called out local governments for misspending and mismanagement,” lawmakers “have been reluctant to turn our gaze on ourselves and hold state government to those same standards.”
Pointedly, he said the state has a spending problem.
“More importantly, we have a recurring spending problem,” Perez added, noting that while member projects — often referred to as budget turkeys — “gain the most attention” because of vetoes, they don’t impact the state’s overall budget growth. He called such projects “irrelevant and incidental” to the state’s overall budget process in the long-term.
“Our problem is not that we buy too many non-recurring projects, it is that we cannot resist spending every single dime of recurring revenue,” Perez said. “We pile more money on programs that can’t even manage to spend the money they already have. The beneficiaries of the state budget are the endless string of lobbyists and vendors who always have some shiny new thing for the state to buy that won’t actually improve the lives of Floridians.”
Perez applauded work by subcommittee chairs to “find real savings,” and said results of their work will be published Friday in the proposed House General Appropriations Act, which he said will likewise be historic.
“Our budget will not only be lower than the Governor’s proposed budget, it will also be lower than the budget passed by the Legislature last term. For the first time since the Great Recession, we will roll out a budget that actually spends less money than we did in the prior fiscal year,” Perez said.
A Senate spokesperson said President Ben Albritton was made aware of the House plan prior to Perez’s announcement and that he “looks forward to reviewing the House proposal and budget in more detail later this week.”
“The Senate budget prioritizes broad-based tax relief, debt repayment, and reserves, while reducing per capita spending. The President has tremendous respect for the Speaker and looks forward to partnering with the House on a significant, broad-based tax relief package to make sure Florida families can keep more of the money they earn.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis proposed a $116 billion budget and called for fiscal responsibility. Already, his budget, entitled “Focus on Fiscal Responsibility,” calls for an aggressive array of tax savings, though most are not recurring. He proposes the usual back-to-school tax holiday and tax holidays for disaster preparedness and “Freedom Month,” which provides tax breaks on summer outdoor activities and items, along with various events, museums and movie theater attendance. He also proposes a new “Second Amendment Summer” tax holiday on guns and ammo. Additionally, DeSantis wants to begin phasing out the state’s commercial rents sales tax, by dropping it to 1% in 2026 and then eliminating it altogether in 2027.
“We often talk about how to improve affordability in Florida, and our strategies usually involve spending money on more government programs. But this year, we’ll try a novel concept – and make Florida more affordable by giving the people of Florida their own money back to them,” Perez concluded in his remarks.
The Senate Fiscal Policy Committee has cleared a measure (SB 608) to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, which would align the name with President Donald Trump’s executive order doing the same.
Already, Google Maps and Apple Maps have reflected the name change for U.S. users, while users in other countries see both names
“By renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, we are putting America first and honoring American greatness,” said Sen. Nick DiCeglie, the bill’s sponsor. “In communities up and down Florida’s Gulf Coast, we are incredibly prideful to say that we live in a paradise along the coast of the Gulf of America.”
The bill would change 92 statutory references in Florida law to refer to the body of water along Florida’s west coast as the Gulf of America. It cleared its first committee stop, Community Affairs, in mid-March.
An identical House version (HB 575) from Rep. Tyler Sirois is on the House special order calendar for Thursday after clearing two committees.
The legislation would comply with Trump’s Executive Order 14172, called “Restoring Names that Honor American Greatness.”
Trump ordered the federal government to “take all appropriate actions to rename as the ‘Gulf of America’ the U.S. Continental Shelf area bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the State of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida and extending to the seaward boundary with Mexico and Cuba in the area formerly named as the Gulf of Mexico.”
DiCeglie’s bill references the President’s directive, which says the move recognizes the “importance of the body of water to the United States.” Senate leadership is on board.
“American exceptionalism matters, and it’s important that we recognize the fact that America is the greatest country in the history of the world,” Senate President Ben Albritton said. “As patriots, we have a duty to honor our country’s greatness, and I am so thankful that President Trump has highlighted what is a fantastic opportunity to do just that and recognize the Gulf of America.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis already pushed the new name in an executive order (EO 25-13) as last month’s Winter storm approached the state.
The name change became official nationally in early February as Trump declared Feb. 9 “Gulf of America Day.”
If passed, the changes to Florida law would take effect July 1.
Sen. Joe Gruters is carrying a bill (SB 1058) in the upper chamber that would implement the name change in Florida public schools, requiring School Boards to “adopt and acquire” materials using the new name to “honor American greatness.”
It is awaiting second reading in the Senate.
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