Budget Chairman Promises Large Cut To Vehicle Fees

January 13, 2014

An unpopular 2009 vehicle-registration fee hike will be rolled back, the Senate’s budget chairman promised Thursday.

The size of the reduction is still a couple of months from being settled, as lawmakers and Gov. Rick Scott have proposed different bottom-line numbers. But Appropriations Chairman Joe Negron, a Stuart Republican who is spearheading the issue in the Senate, assured his colleagues that the final total will be big.

“What we can promise people is that the fee decrease will be large and something that they’ll feel,” Negron told members of the Transportation, Tourism, and Economic Development Appropriations Subcommittee.

The panel unanimously supported the proposal (SB 156), which is projected to collectively save motorists $185 million during the upcoming budget year, growing to $236.7 million the following year.

The reductions would translate to about $12 per vehicle registration fee, or half the 2009 increase.

Scott, who was at a Brandon Honda dealership on Wednesday as he continues to promote his proposal to roll back the 2009 hike by $400 million, called the committee vote Thursday an “important first step.”

“We’re committed to undoing the 54 percent tax increase that families experienced in 2009, so we can give more back to families,” Scott said in a prepared statement.

Scott, who is up for re-election in November, has said his proposal will be part of a $500 million tax-and-fee-cut package for the upcoming legislative session.

After the committee meeting, Negron said the cut amount will ultimately depend on updated revenue projections from state economists after the legislative session begins in March.

In December, state economic forecasters pushed the state’s projected surplus toward $1.2 billion for the coming year.

“The good news is that our economy is recovering and we will have some additional revenue this session, and some of that we’ll save for the future,” Negron said. “I hope to keep our reserves at a good level and we’ll address some infrastructure needs. But I think there is a good piece in there to return some of that money to the taxpayers that sent it to us in the first place.”

The vehicle registration fee will be in competition with a number of other proposed cuts, from a three-day back-to-school sales tax holiday to reductions in corporate-income taxes, communications-services taxes and commercial rental taxes.

“Every budget proposal is in competition with every other budget proposal, I don’t mind that there is competition, that is part of the process,” Negron said.

The vote Thursday was the second Senate panel to back Negron’s vehicle-registration fee proposal. The Transportation Committee endorsed the measure on Oct. 9.

The final stop before being sent to the Senate floor is Negron’s Appropriations Committee.

The House version (HB 61), which is sponsored by freshmen Rep. Mike Hill, R-Pensacola, has yet to be scheduled.

Hill’s office hopes the proposal will get its first hearing next Thursday before the House Finance and Tax Subcommittee.

by The News Service of Florida

Comments

3 Responses to “Budget Chairman Promises Large Cut To Vehicle Fees”

  1. Joe Bagofdoughnuts on January 14th, 2014 9:09 am

    Jane is right you know.

    Did any one else notice all the corporate taxes cuts included in this.

    Makes me wonder if the small registration cut is just the sugar coating for the rest of the bill.

  2. OldMan on January 14th, 2014 5:22 am

    Sorry to say 12 bucks, not even close to half of the increase. Mine doubled .

  3. Jane on January 13th, 2014 12:49 pm

    They need to drop it all the way back to what the fees were, not just part way back if they want to help the economy.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News