Palm Coast Chamber praises online sales tax bill passed by Florida Legislature

Palm Coast Observer
Opinion

from: Palm Coast-Flagler Regional Chamber of Commerce

The Palm Coast-Flagler Regional Chamber of Commerce applauds the efforts of the Florida Legislature, which recently passed SB 50, a major legislative priority of the chamber. This is the second major chamber-backed bill to pass the Florida Legislature.

SB 50 will:

Require out-of-state companies who sell products in Florida to collect the Florida sales tax and remit payment to the state,
Direct the tax revenue collected from online sales to relieve an immediate $713 million tax increase on job creators in the form of increased unemployment compensation taxes,
Reduce the Florida-only Business Rent Tax from 5.5% to 2%, a more than 60% reduction.

Greg Blosé, President & CEO of the Palm Coast-Flagler Regional Chamber said, “This bill will level the playing field for our brick-and-mortar businesses, who regularly tell us consumers visit their shop, only to look up the item online to avoid paying the state sales tax. SB 50 also reduces the Florida-only Business Rent Tax by more than 60%, which will help businesses save hundreds of millions of dollars statewide and help organizations emerge from the pandemic recession even stronger.”

Blosé continued, “Finally, SB 50 will replenish the state unemployment compensation trust fund until the trust fund reaches a balance of pre-pandemic levels. Job creators were expecting a hefty increase in their annual unemployment compensation bill, according to notices sent to all businesses in late December. However, the unemployment compensation trust fund rate increase will be recalculated after this bill is signed by the Governor.”

The chamber would like to thank Senator Travis Hutson and Representative Paul Renner for their work on supporting this bill in Tallahassee.

For more information, contact Greg Blosé, President and CEO of the Palm Coast-Flagler Regional Chamber, at 386-846-1864 or via email at [email protected].