Latest news with #SecondAmendmentSummer
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Would Floridians notice if state government shut down?
Florida's Old Capitol and New Capitol, viewed from the Leon County Courthouse on March 21, 2022. (Photo by Michael Moline/Florida Phoenix) While the Florida Legislature exhibits nowhere near the level of bile-spitting, brainless dysfunction you get in Washington, they haven't exactly been a model of a sleek, responsive government machine. For weeks, there was no budget. No hint of a budget. Instead of getting done the one thing the Constitution says they have to get done, they've been indulging in that sure-fire negotiating tactic: insulting each other. Then Friday: a trickle of white smoke emanating from the Capitol. Habemus budget! A budget framework, anyway. It's a bit short on details, other than 'permanent sales tax exemptions targeted toward Florida families,' elimination of sales tax on commercial leases, and a boost to the state's rainy-day fund. Money for education, health care, environmental restoration, culture, roads — little stuff like that — has yet to be spelled out. Seems House and Senate leaders will be meeting this week to thrash out details and plan, they claim, to hold a vote by June 16. Things remain contentious, and that's not counting the wild card in the process: our congenitally angry governor. He can veto appropriations he doesn't like or, knowing him, appropriations he thinks his legislative enemies particularly care about. The state budget is not yet a done deal. If it's not passed by June 30, we could even have a government shutdown. Thought experiment: Would you notice? Bears might: Shuttered FWC offices could slow down final approval for bear hunting, passed by this year after passionate lobbying from the Davy Crockett Caucus. State workers might: Their paychecks would be suspended. Holders of state contracts might: They'll be in limbo. Anyone wanting to visit a state park might: The gates will be locked. Still, most Floridians probably wouldn't realize their government isn't working. It often doesn't. Work, that is. Instead of addressing our numerous problems, from unaffordable housing to unaffordable insurance to inflation to flooding, elected officials prefer to spend much of their time worrying about pronouns, boasting about helping Trump's storm troopers arrest brown folks, or trying to rename the Gulf of Mexico. Floridians don't expect much. And not much is what we'll get. Floridians don't expect much. And not much is what we'll get. The Senate wanted sales tax 'holidays' for clothes, tools, hurricane preparedness, and 'Second Amendment Summer items,' i.e. cross bows, firearms, ammo. The House wanted to slash state sales taxes from six percent to 5.25%. Who knows which, and in what form, these proposals will survive the process. The governor hates all of it. He's been stomping around the state throwing tantrums about how lower sales taxes only help tourists and 'foreigners,' railing, 'I don't want to give Canadians a tax cut.' He might not have to worry about tax relief for those sinister Canadians much longer: They're selling their Florida condos and taking vacations in Mexico and Portugal instead. DeSantis' plan? Give every homeowner a $1,000 rebate. Then work up to abolishing property taxes altogether. Awesome! Lower taxes! Maybe no taxes! We hate taxes, right? Problem is, most of us love schools, sidewalks, roads, garbage pick-up, parks, police departments, fire departments, municipal pools, good drinking water, bike paths, animal shelters, electricity, and emergency medical services. Florida cities and counties depend on taxes to fund these. The House and Senate plan will reduce the state budget by $2.25 billion. That's likely to hurt everybody. No surprise. A number of measures passed this session are not exactly citizen-friendly. One example: Given our increasingly strong hurricanes and the floods they bring, the state should encourage people to rebuild more resilient structures. But no: A bill approved this session will block attempts to strengthen construction after storms. The idea is to 'streamline' the process (translation: Help developers who can sue if a local government institutes 'burdensome or restrictive' rules) so you can build your house or your business or your school back under the same outdated codes that failed to protect it last time. The bill also raises the price of flood insurance. Nice, huh? Another example: In a fit of good taste, the Senate refused to confirm some of DeSantis' more appalling University of West Florida board nominees, including yahoos who think the GI Bill was a bad idea or that women don't belong in higher education. Good for them. But legislators had a chance to do even more for higher education by putting college president searches back in the sunshine where they belong. Bills stopping the governor installing his hand-picked faith followers sailed through various committees, but in the end they were withdrawn. Fear of a gubernatorial melt-down? Line-item vetoes of pet projects? Presidents will still be chosen in secret subject to the whims of the governor and his tame boards of trustees. To be fair, the Legislature did decide to forbid oil and gas drilling within 10 miles of the Apalachicola Estuarine Reserve, and passed a bill to shield state parks from the kind of boneheaded nonsense the governor wanted in 2024: You know, 'improving' the parks with golf courses, pickleball courts, and luxury hotels. DeSantis actually realized (for once) he'd screwed up big time last year and signed the bill. This year, he demonstrated he hadn't quite learned his lesson. A secretive outfit calling itself Upland LLC wanted the state to give it 600 acres of preservation lands on the Guana River in St. Johns County in exchange for 3,000 acres of non-contiguous, less environmentally significant property scattered around four counties. Apparently, that swap sounded good to DeSantis. The state Acquisition and Restoration Council served up a report claiming there was nothing special about the Guana River land, no historic sites, no amazing habitat, nothing like that — never mind the ancient Native American shell middens, wood storks, roseate spoonbills, and old oak hammocks — and rushed the required public comment meeting. Genuine Floridians (the ones their government ignores) rose up on their hind legs and said hell, no. Loudly. Upland, its feelings hurt, pulled out of the deal — no thanks to DeSantis and his Department of Environmental Prostitution. Why, you ask, is this state so self-defeating? Or, to put it another way, why can't we have nice things? Florida has one of the most regressive taxation systems in the country, what the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy calls an 'upside down' model. The rich pay a far smaller percentage of their income than the middle classes and the poor. If the state decides to deprive itself — us — of tax dollars, we will all suffer. Florida's social safety net is already tattered. Twenty percent of children live in poverty. The state ranks 40th in child health and 45th in economic well-being. You'd think lawmakers would figure out helping to feed, educate, and take care of children is worth the money: Healthy, educated people contribute to the economy. But children don't vote. Or write big fat campaign checks. It's bad enough our so-called representatives can't do their jobs in a timely manner and must keep coming back for special sessions to decide which taxes to cut and by how much while simultaneously costing the taxpayer around $50,000 every day they hang around in Tallahassee. The governor, the most mobility impaired of waterfowl, his political career in the dumpster, his wife's charity under investigation for possible money laundering, still wants to abolish property taxes. Maybe he thinks that will give him a nice slogan to run for president on if we have an election in 2028. The Legislature wants to curry favor with their voters by giving them a break on stuff they buy. Everybody loves a bargain, right? But it's not much of a bargain if your quality of life goes to hell. Cities and counties are staring into the abyss, wondering how they'll fund everything citizens expect. School roofs won't be repaired, parks won't be maintained, bad water pipes won't be fixed, new cops won't be hired, EMS will be cut, potholes will proliferate. But hey, it's a small price to pay for a sales tax break on batteries and backpacks, right?
CBS News
02-04-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Florida House proposes sales tax cut, ends 16-year tradition of tax holidays
For the first time in 16 years, the state wouldn't offer sales-tax "holidays " under a House proposal that calls for an overall cut in sales taxes. The House Ways & Means Committee on Wednesday unanimously approved a $5.43 billion package dominated by House Speaker Daniel Perez' proposal to lower the state's sales-tax rate from 6 percent to 5.25 percent. The package, which will be a key issue in upcoming budget negotiations between the House and Senate, also would reduce a commercial-lease tax from 2 percent to 1.25 percent, along with sales taxes on mobile home sales, electricity and games such as pinball machines. Gov. Ron DeSantis is pushing to reduce property taxes instead of sales taxes. But Ways & Means Chairman Wyman Duggan, R-Jacksonville, said the House proposal (PCB WMC 25-01) would have the broadest effect. "Homestead property-tax relief targets or benefits only Floridians at this point, but not all Floridians," Duggan said. "Sales tax relief benefits all Floridians, plus some other people." House leaders say their proposal would cut taxes by about $5 billion, which would be offset by potential reductions in state spending. But DeSantis wants to offer a one-time property tax break for homesteaded properties and ask voters in 2026 to pass a constitutional amendment to reduce or eliminate property taxes. The Senate has not gotten behind either proposal. In a memo issued Monday, Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, said it would be prudent for any tax package this year to make mostly one-time cuts, with more time spent studying potential longer-term cuts. Cutting taxes now does little good if they have to be raised two years from now to address budget shortfalls," Albritton wrote. The House and the Senate will negotiate a budget and a tax package for the 2025-2026 fiscal year, which will start July As part of a $115.6 billion budget proposal he released in February, DeSantis called for a series of sales-tax holidays. He proposed holding holiday periods to allow shoppers to avoid paying sales taxes on school supplies and clothes in August; on disaster supplies at the start and the peak of the hurricane season; and on recreational purchases throughout July. DeSantis also proposed a "Second Amendment Summer" sales-tax holiday between Memorial Day and the Fourth of July that would temporarily remove sales taxes on ammunition, firearms and related items. First created in 1998, back-to-school holidays have been held annually since 2010. They were not held in 2008 and 2009 as the state struggled with budget problems during the recession. Florida has offered holidays on hurricane supplies each year since 2014, after first offering the discount period in 2006. While tax holidays have been popular with shoppers and retailers, Perez hasn't embraced them. When the legislative session opened on March 4, he directed House budget leaders to "dive into the budget and find real savings in recurring revenue." "We spend every new dime of recurring revenue while congratulating ourselves for giving easy-to-fund non-recurring sales tax holidays," Perez said at the time. In announcing the sales-tax proposal last week, Perez said it "will not be a temporary measure; a stunt or a tax holiday." As the House pursues cutting the overall sales-tax rate, Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, called the proposal "quite historic." Lawmakers debate regressive tax structure and economic relief for Floridians "Florida has a very regressive tax structure, partially because we are so reliant on sales tax," Eskamani said. "For our Floridians that make less (money), they pay more of their income into taxation than those that make more," Eskamani added. "And part of that is because we don't tax income in our state, which is why folks love coming to our state." The House package would also cut the sales-tax rate on electricity from 4.35 percent to 3.6 percent, the rate on sales of new mobile homes from 3 percent to 2.25 percent, and the rate on coin-operated amusement machines, such as pinball machines, from 4 percent to 3.25 percent. "Floridians are struggling. I think this will make a difference in everyone's pocketbook when they go to the store and purchase items," Rep. Robin Bartleman, D-Weston, said.
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump doesn't care about ‘working from home' when he's doing it at Mar-a-Lago
President Donald Trump needs to stop 'working from home.' He's got a really nice office in Washington, D.C., on Pennsylvania Avenue, where presidents have the entire federal government at their fingertips. He's got a big desk in an oval-shaped office, and just outside the door there are more than 500 White House staffers ready to be directed to do his bidding. Instead, Trump chooses to spend way too much time at his Palm Beach club, Mar-a-Lago, a gaudy pleasure palace dedicated to leisure and full of aging Palm Beach cougars, future white-collar criminals, Chinese spies and top-tax-bracket layabouts with nothing better to do. Letter: If white, male and unqualified is the new DEI, Hegseth fits the bill In his first month 'in office', Trump spent a solid chunk of it 'out of office' in Florida, where he sauntered in his relaxed-waist pants, searching for approval and playing golf eight times. I guess you could say he was wrecking the rule of law remotely. I wouldn't mention this if Trump hadn't concurrently been making a big deal about saying how he wanted to put a stop to federal workers working from home. Opinion: DeSantis' latest ploy to counter Pride Month is 'Second Amendment Summer' 'There's a whole big, oh, you can work from home,' Trump said. 'Nobody's going to work from a home. They're going to be going out. They're going to play tennis. They're going to play golf. They're going to do a lot of things. They're not working.' This is a rare subject in which Trump actually knows what he's talking about. Not to be a nitpicker, but Trump is actually a federal worker. And it costs about $3.3 million every time he jets off to Mar-a-Lago for a long weekend and another round or two of golf. For us local residents, it also means more taxpayer-supported overtime pay for the Palm Beach County Sheriff's security detail. By contrast, when a mid-level staffer at the U.S. Department of the Interior decides to work from his or her Northern Virginia home, it doesn't cost taxpayers millions of dollars or snarl traffic on the roadways due to motorcade delays. So, Trump might want to consider following his own advice by spending more time at the office, and less at home. And maybe in the process, try to claw his job back from Elon Musk. Frank Cerabino is a news columnist with The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Trump's return to in-person work order doesn't include him | Opinion
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
DeSantis' $115B budget: Fiscal responsibility or missed opportunities?
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WFLA) — Florida Governor Ron DeSantis came out with his proposed budget, saying it focuses on fiscal responsibility. But the relationship between the Governor and the legislature has been rocky lately, so how are his proposals being received? 'The budget I've proposed has a top line of $115.6 billion, that represents a spending reduction of 3 billion over current year,' said Governor DeSantis. 'Second Amendment Summer': DeSantis unveils guns and ammo sales tax holiday Many are aware of the continuing tensions at the statehouse between lawmakers and the Governor, but when it comes to the state's budget and being responsible with taxpayers' dollars everyone is on board.'So, we've got a lot of momentum, we need to keep the momentum going, and I am confident that this focus on fiscal responsibility will do just that,' said Governor DeSantis. Lawmakers across chambers say there needs to be transparency and responsibility when creating the state's budget.'I think it's really great to see again that we're being very thoughtful how we're spending money. We're not trying to be in California, were not trying to spend and spend and spend. We have a surplus, we are being very conservative about how we do things, but yet we're still making large investments in education, transportation, and infrastructure,' said State Senator Jay Collins (R-Tampa). Senator Collins is focused on transportation investments in Hillsborough County. 'In Hillsborough County, people are rolling in from all over the state all over the country, it's a growing community. We know we got to get on top of this. As the transportation Chair, that's something we're really focusing on. How can we continue to use these dollars more efficiently, more effectively and get more out of it,' said Sen. Collins. Some lawmakers are cheering on the pay raises for law enforcement, no tuition hikes at state colleges, funding emergency response efforts, and tax holidays. 'I am very supportive of areas that we can reduce our budget. We have rapidly rising costs throughout the state, whether it's property insurance or just the price of milk and eggs. A lot of those things we don't have direct control over, right?' said State Rep. Adam Anderson (R-Palm Harbor). 'There's only so many levers that we can pull to influence those expenses. But one of them is, if we're continuously reducing the size of our government, we're continuing to extend tax cuts, renew our tax sales tax holidays. Those are areas that can continue to provide relief for Floridians.' Several state lawmakers are interested to learn more about the Second Amendment tax holiday, while others say firearms are not an 'essential good' and see the Governor's budget proposal as a 'missed opportunity.''When it comes to the tax package, which I play a big role in as the ranking member of the ways and means committee, the Governor wants to give a tax break for ammunition and firearms, but that's not what a tax break is supposed to be for, a tax break is supposed to provide relief to families in need on essential goods,' said State Rep. Anna V. Eskamani (D-Orlando). With the mixed reaction to the Governor's budget proposal, one thing both parties can agree on is relief after the hurricanes, making sure the My Safe Florida Home program continues. 'We unfortunately, were affected by the back-to-back one-two punch of the Hurricanes, a few a few months ago. And a lot of our residents are really still hurting from that. And that really moves to the forefront some of the issues we have with property insurance, you know, so budget wise, I'm excited to see that the Governor's proposal is increasing programs like My Safe Florida. That's a program that's had tons of success, but still a waiting list, so we need to start moving people through that program,' said State Rep. Anderson. HEADING INTO LEGISLATIVE SESSION: 'On the health care side, there's a number of programs that we are funding but are not being used efficiently and effectively,' said State Rep. Anderson. Heading into next session, House Representative Adam Anderson shares that on the health care front there are some oversight and accountability issues, and he would like to prioritize a way to better utilize state programs. 'I can tell you firsthand there's some legislation that I passed a couple years ago that established a grant program to provide cutting edge genetic testing to babies that were in the NICU that are on Medicaid, we allocated $3.3 million on a recurring basis, and that that program was based on a pilot study that was done in 2021 at Nicholas Children's Hospital where they studied 50 children that received this test and they studied their claims over the next 12 months and they found, that saved $2.8 million,' said Rep. Anderson. Rep. Anderson adds that if we use the same math on the 3.3 million, we should get savings of somewhere between $70 – $80 million a year of cost savings in our healthcare system. 'Unfortunately, it's not being utilized to its full extent today, so I'm deeply focused on trying to figure out where those bottlenecks are, how do we fix that? Because we can do the right thing for these patients. Quickly diagnose them so they can get treatment and save their lives in some cases but also save taxpayers $70 – $80 million every single year,' said Rep. Anderson. Anderson plans to introduce a bill soon for a genetic testing piolet program called, 'Sunshine Genetics' that he hopes will help position Florida as a national leader in genetics and precision medicine. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
04-02-2025
- Yahoo
Clearwater police see uptick in vehicular gun thefts
CLEARWATER, Fla. (WFLA) — A pattern of gun thefts from vehicles across Clearwater is putting police on alert. Over the span of two days, officials said four guns had been stolen in vehicular burglaries, according to the Clearwater Police Department. One of those guns was an AR-15 rifle. 'Second Amendment Summer': DeSantis unveils guns and ammo sales tax holiday All of the vehicles were left unlocked. 'If you are responsible enough to be a gun owner, you should also be responsible enough to properly secure your weapons at all times,' the department said. No matter what is in your vehicle, officers remind residents to keep them locked, especially at night. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
