Back To School Sales Tax Holiday Might Be Headed Back

April 7, 2010

The Florida House voted Tuesday to reinstate Florida’s back-to-School sales tax holiday in an effort benefit Florida’s families.

salestaxholiday.jpgThe bi-partisan measure, sponsored by Representatives David Rivera (R-Miami) and Anitere Flores (R-Miami), passed 115-0 on the House Floor in a bi-partisan vote. The bill provides for a one-time three-day sales tax holiday for clothing and other school supplies purchased from August 13-15 of this year. Backers of the bill point out that sales tax collections actually increase during the period as people tend to shop more and buy items not covered by the tax holiday.

Democrats tried to amend the bill on the floor Tuesday to extend the sales tax holiday for additional days and to make it permanent each year, rather than having lawmakers enact the proposal, but Republicans opposed the proposals saying the money wasn’t available this year, and that it may or may not be in future years.

“The bottom line here is that this is not Tallahassee’s money,” said Rep. Rivera. “The money belongs to Florida taxpayers and they deserve some of it back as they stretch their hard-earned dollars to ensure that their children have the school supplies they need. This bill provides Florida families relief.”

“As a parent, I understand how every little bit helps when it comes to crafting a family budget, especially in these challenging economic times,” stated Rep. Flores. “This bill will provide Florida families with a respite from sales taxes at a time when they are preparing their children for the school year.”

“Tax breaks like these are never enough, but it’s a way for elected representatives to remember that the money we spend in Tallahassee belongs to the people and we must seize every opportunity to let Floridians keep their hard-earned tax dollars, especially during difficult economic times such as we are experiencing in Florida. I commend our Democrat colleagues for joining House Republicans in this bi-partisan measure,” said House Majority Leader Adam Hasner (R-Delray Beach).

Clothes, books, shoes, wallets and certain other items costing less than $50 and school supplies under $10 would be tax free for those three days under the measure.

The measure is expected to gain Senate approval and be signed by Gov. Crist.

Comments

One Response to “Back To School Sales Tax Holiday Might Be Headed Back”

  1. The voice of common sense on April 9th, 2010 9:44 am

    For some families, this is the only way they can afford to buy the things they need to get for their kids for school.
    And don’t kid yourself into thinking that these programs such as Cram the Van will help these kids because for two years now, I have asked about this program. What I’ve been told each time is that they distribute these to the schools and the schools are in charge of distributing these items. When I talk to the schools, they always say that it will be taken care of and these kids will have the items on their supply list on their desks on the first day of school. It doesn’t work that way. The supplies are never there and when the kids tell their teachers that their supplies should be there, they are told that they don’t know anything about it. When you talk to the principals, they say that they don’t know anything about it either and there are no supplies there to be given.
    I want to know who gets these supplies because the kids I have referred to this are about as needy as they come. One family has four children, the dad lost his job and has been unable to find another and the mom is experiencing health problems and unable to work. Their only income is unemployment (less than $1000 per month) and foodstamps. They can barely pay their bills, much less buy school supplies for four kids. What are they to do? Without the sales tax holiday, they can hardly buy anything for their children.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News