Florida state budget talks resume with $2.25B tax cut 'framework' in place
After blowing past their original deadline to pass a budget due to an impasse between House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, and Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, over tax cuts, the chambers spent the day trading offers on spending for health care and environmental programs.
While some disagreements were resolved, the details on the main source of the dispute – tax cuts – aren't likely to be unveiled for several days. Under the latest framework for a deal reached between the chambers, though, there will be $2.25 billion in recurring tax cuts.
That will include eliminating the tax that Florida businesses pay on rents and exempting some items from sales taxes. Exactly which items will be exempt remains to be seen, though a memo announcing the deal last week from Albritton said the exemptions would be 'targeted towards Florida families.'
Another plank of the agreement is to put more money – $750 million per year – into a key reserve fund. That move will require lawmakers to put a measure on the 2026 ballot. The House and Senate are poised to take up that measure Thursday.
Lawmakers were supposed to pass a budget by May 2, the last day of the regular session, but the dispute led them to extend the session to June 6. The first outline of a broad deal between Perez and Albritton included an outright reduction in the state sales tax, from 6% to 5.75%.
The across-the-board sales tax cut was a priority for Perez, who wants to restrain spending by drastically cutting back the amount of revenue available to the state. Albritton was wary of such a move, but he was willing to compromise to pass his top priority – an infusion of resources to rural areas to boost education, health care and transportation programs and projects, dubbed the 'Rural Renaissance.'
Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has pressed lawmakers to move forward with cuts to property taxes, threatened to veto any tax cut bill with an overall sales tax reduction. He feared a major sales tax cut would make it harder to pass his preferred property tax reductions.
Albritton opted to drop his Rural Renaissance priority to reach a deal with Perez. Now, rank-and-file members will hammer out the details in the coming days.
The clock is running: The state's budget year runs July 1 to June 30, and failing to come up with a budget by the end of June could force a partial state government shutdown. Lawmakers also have to build in time for DeSantis to review their plan for any line-item vetoes before he signs it into law.
Gray Rohrer is a reporter with the USA TODAY Network-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at grohrer@gannett.com. Follow him on X: @GrayRohrer.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Sales tax exemptions, reserves part of Florida budget talks
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