Latest news with #spendingplan
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Budget deal Take Two: Florida House, Senate agree on 'framework' amid raucous session
Nearly a month after leaving the Capitol without passing a budget, House and Senate leaders said Friday night they had reached an agreement that will clear the way for lawmakers to begin hammering out details of a spending plan Tuesday. House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, and Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, issued memos that indicated they expect to pass a budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year on June 16. The memos came after weeks of behind-the-scenes talks aimed at trying to kick-start the conference negotiating process. The memos said the agreement includes a $900 million tax cut through eliminating a tax on commercial leases, a longtime priority of business lobbyists. It also includes what the memos described as $350 million in 'permanent sales tax exemptions targeted towards Florida families,' $250 million in debt reduction and $750 million in annual payments into a state rainy-day fund. 'In total, the framework set forth in these allocations provides for a fiscally responsible, balanced budget that reduces state spending, lowers per capita spending, and reduces the growth of state bureaucracy,' Albritton wrote in his memo to senators. 'The budget authorizes early payoff of state debt, accounts for significant, broad-based tax relief, and builds on historic state reserves for emergencies.' Conference committees will start meeting Tuesday to negotiate details of the different parts of the budget, such as education, health care and criminal justice. Unresolved issues will go Thursday to House Budget Chairman Lawrence McClure, R-Dover, and Senate Appropriations Chairman Ed Hooper, R-Trinity, for further negotiations. The fiscal year will start July 1, which, if a budget passes June 16, will give Gov. Ron DeSantis two weeks to use his line-item veto authority. The House and Senate were unable to reach agreement on a budget before the scheduled May 2 end of the annual legislative session because of differences about tax cuts and spending levels. Lawmakers extended the session, but House and Senate leaders remained at odds as they worked behind the scenes. The House in April approved a plan that called for cutting the state sales-tax rate from 6 percent to 5.25 percent, which would have totaled roughly $5 billion. But the Senate did not go along and pitched a plan that included providing a sales-tax exemption on clothes and shoes valued at $75 or less, sales-tax 'holidays' and trimming the commercial-lease tax. DeSantis, meanwhile, called for cutting property taxes and criticized the House's plan for reducing the sales-tax rate. Perez and Albritton indicated on May 2 that they had reached a 'framework' that would include $2.8 billion in tax cuts, including reducing the sales-tax rate. But that later blew up, with Perez publicly accusing Albritton of backing out of the deal. But Albritton said senators had raised concerns that a cut in the sales-tax rate would not be 'meaningful, felt, or seen by families and seniors when compared with other available options.' The memos released Friday night did not provide details of the $350 million in sales-tax exemptions that are included in the latest agreement. They also did not mention property-tax cuts. This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida House, Senate agree on budget 'framework' after bitter divide
CTV News
6 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Poilievre slams Liberal spending plan, urges spring budget
Watch Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says his party will vote against the Liberals' $500B spending plan and urges a spring budget.
Daily Mail
29-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Nigel Farage under fire over £85BN cost of Reform spending splurge as Keir Starmer brands it a Liz Truss-style 'fantasy' and even allies say his sums 'don't add up'
Nigel Farage is facing fresh questions over Reform's economic literacy today after unveiling plans for an £85billion spending splurge if Reform wins power. Sir Keir Starmer will use a speech this morning to deride a 'fantasy' package of measures that will lead to a Liz Truss-style market meltdown. Mr Farage yesterday unveiled a string of policies in a major speech, including scrapping the two-child benefit cap, fully reinstating winter fuel payments and raising the tax-free income allowance to £20,000. He also pledged a transferable marriage tax allowance if his party wins the next election, aimed at incentivising marriage and encouraging people to have more children by making it more affordable. It would exempt one spouse from paying any tax on the first £25,000 of their income, as revealed by the Mail. But experts said it could cost as much £85billion, a figure that dwarfs the £45billion of unfunded tax cuts announced by former Tory Prime Minister Liz Truss in her disastrous 2022 mini-Budget. And even Reform supporters raised eyebrows as the cost of the package announced by Mr Farage, who is currently in Las Vegas speaking at a bitcoin conference. Commentator Tim Montgomerie, founder of the Con Home political website, said: 'The sums don't add up.' Mr Farage yesterday unveiled a string of policies in a major speech, including scrapping the two-child benefit cap, fully reinstating winter fuel payments and raising the tax-free income allowance to £20,000. On a visit to meet workers at a manufacturing business in the North West, Sir Keir is expected to brand Mr Farage's policies a 'mad experiment'. He will say: 'In opposition we said Liz Truss would crash the economy and leave you to pick the bill. We were right. 'And we were elected to fix that mess. 'Now in Government, we are once again fighting the same fantasy – this time from Nigel Farage. 'Farage is making the exact same bet Liz Truss did. 'That you can spend tens of billions on tax cuts without a proper way of paying for it. 'And just like Truss, he is using your family finances, your mortgage, your bills as a gambling chip on his mad experiment. 'The result will be the same.' Mr Farage insisted the pledges were 'credible' and could be paid for by scrapping the Net Zero agenda, which he claimed was costing £45billion a year. Mr Farage praised Liz Truss's mini-Budget in 2022 - which triggered a market meltdown. He said an extra £4billion annually could be saved from ditching accommodation for asylum seekers by deporting them and £7billion by ending the public sector's diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) drive. A further £65billion could be saved over five years by cutting quango bureaucracy by 5 per cent, he added, giving an average saving of £69billion annually overall. But experts said raising the basic rate of income tax threshold to £20,000 could alone cost up to £80billion. At present, workers pay the 20 per cent rate of income tax on everything between £12,570 and £50,270. Lifting the two-child benefit cap would cost an extra £3.5billion and reinstating the winter fuel allowance £1.5billion. The eagerly anticipated speech was the most policy-heavy since Reform won four million votes and five seats last July. Asked if he had a 'magic money tree', Mr Farage admitted his sums were 'slightly optimistic' but added: 'We can't afford Net Zero, it's destroying the country; we can't afford DEI, it's actually preventing many talented people from succeeding; and we certainly can't afford young undocumented males crossing the English Channel and living in five-star hotels. 'You can argue about numbers adding up. You can probably argue that at no point in the history of any form of government has anybody ever thought the numbers added up.' The Conservatives last night branded the package 'fantasy' economics and 'Corbynism in a different colour' because of the 'billions in unfunded commitments'.
