Tax-cut package expected to be $80M

TALLAHASSEE — Florida lawmakers prepared Friday to hammer out a tax-cut plan, with the Senate introducing a $148 million package and the House scrapping a controversial tax-related proposal that local governments argued could prevent them from banning unwanted busi- nesses such as “puppy mills.”

For most Floridians, the highlights of a final package could be sales-tax “holidays” for back-to-school shoppers and hurricane-season prepa- rations, though the details of House and Senate proposals differ and will have to be negotiated.

House and Senate lead- ers said last week that they expect a final tax-cut pack- age of about $80 million.

Both proposals are larger than that benchmark, but legislative leaders have said they will need to scale back tax cuts to help pay for a $400 million school-safety plan after the mass shoot- ing last month at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

House Ways & Means ha i rman Paul Renner, a Palm Coast Republican whose committee crafted a nearly $400 tax-cut pack- age, acknowledged Friday that changes will be needed.

“Given the recent events,

Cthere will be some changes before we get to the final tax bill,” Renner said.

The House on Friday took up its package (HB 7087) and positioned it for a vote as soon as Monday.

The House package includes a 10-day tax holiday for back-to-school shoppers, which would allow people to avoid paying sales taxes on clothes costing $60 or less and school supplies costing $15 or less and on the first $1,000 of the cost of personal computers and accessories.

The House plan also includes three seven-day holidays on the purchases of hurricane supplies.

Also, the House package includes a controversial plan to expand by $154 million a year sales-tax credits that businesses could receive to fund voucher-like scholarships in the Gardiner Scholarship Program and the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program.

The Senate package (SB 620) approved Friday by the Appropriations Committee does not include the tax-credit proposal.

The Senate package includes a seven-day tax holiday on hurricane-preparation items such as batteries, portable self-powered radios and generators.

T he Senate’s back-toschool holiday would run three-days in early August.