Gov. DeSantis signs online sales tax plan
Ron DeSantis, at a press conference at Mote Marine Laboratory, waits as Joe Gruters speaks.
Gov.
Ron DeSantis has signed the online sales tax bill into law, answering the question of whether he would act on the bill or let it roll into law without his John Hancock.
Lawmakers
passed the bill earlier this month, finalizing Republican legislative leadership’s plan to require online retailers to collect sales tax. An estimated $1 billion in revenue would come from the new enforcement of sales taxes technically already owed on purchases Floridians make from out-of-state sellers, but which few Floridians pay.
Tuesday, April 20, 2021
On April 19, Gov. DeSantis signed into law a sweeping tax package, Senate Bill 50, that provides both temporary and long-term relief to Florida businesses. The new law requires the collection of sales taxes by online businesses and is projected to generate $1 billion in annual tax revenue for the state. This will level the playing field for Florida brick and mortar businesses that are required to collect sales tax.
Florida businesses are facing two challenges, which this legislation addresses:
(i) a significant increase in employer reemployment assistance tax premiums given the drawdown of funds in the Unemployment Compensation Fund as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and
DeSantis Signs Bill Requiring Out-Of-State Online Retailers To Collect Florida Sales Taxes usf.edu - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from usf.edu Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
“We’re a much more modern society than when this (unemployment) statute was first written,” said Sen. Jason Brodeur, a Sanford Republican sponsoring the bill. “We ve done some great things to bolster our (unemployment) trust fund.”
Brodeur’s bill underwent changes, including expanding the number of weeks that benefits would be available and refining a “work search” requirement in which people on unemployment must reach out to five prospective employers each week. The House does not have an identical bill.
Last spring, as the pandemic devastated businesses in Florida, more than 1 million people were quickly put out of work. They faced troubles with the state’s CONNECT online unemployment system, which largely crashed, and with the amounts of benefits.
by John Haughey, The Center Square contributor | April 14, 2021 12:00 PM Print this article
It’s taken three years of dog-chasing-tail debate among Republicans about whether it’s a tax increase or merely a mechanism to collect an already-levied tax, but Floridians could be paying sales taxes on every online purchase beginning July 1.
That is, if Gov. Ron DeSantis signs Senate Bill 50, which was delivered to his desk Monday after it was passed on April 8 by both the House and the Senate.
The governor has not expressed any views regarding the attempts led by state Republican Party chair Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, to install an “e-fairness” provision in state tax laws requiring online retailers to collect and remit sales taxes since 2019.