Sellers beware! Florida Senate supports online sales tax

A proposal to impose sales tax on online purchases from out-of-state retailers advanced in the Florida Senate on Thursday, according to a report by Florida Today, a foreign media outlet . Economists estimate that the plan would bring in more than $1 billion in revenue each year .

The Senate Finance and Taxation Committee voted in favor of the proposal, and the bill's sponsor , Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, said efforts were being made to balance tax increases with other sources of funding to achieve "revenue neutrality . "

Prior to the meeting, a group called the State Revenue Estimating Conference projected that the bill would increase the state's general revenue by $937.6 million in the next fiscal year, rising to $1.08 billion in the following years . Local governments across the state would see a total revenue increase of $ 229.5 million in the next fiscal year and $253.7 million the following year.

Gruters , who also serves as chairman of the Florida Republican Party, proposed an offset that could be achieved by reducing the 5.5% sales tax on rents collected from commercial properties , a tax long criticized by business groups. The bill next goes to the Senate Appropriations Committee and will be heard by the full Senate after the annual legislative session begins March 2.

Currently, retailers with physical stores in Florida are required to collect and remit sales taxes on merchandise sold in the state.

Florida business groups have long argued that Florida retailers are at a competitive disadvantage because out-of-state businesses don’t collect sales taxes.

In response, Senate President Wilton Simpson (R-Trilby) called Gruters ' bill "very important" and said it was a matter of fairness.

The potential tax revenue from the change has also increased during the pandemic as consumers have shifted to buying more products online, and Gruters insisted that since e-commerce isn’t going away, his proposal is about giving Florida businesses a fair shake.

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