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A large coalition of statewide business groups — organizations that sometimes disagree on issues — have come together in support of a tax cut championed by Florida Gov. Rick Scott.
The excise in question is the commercial lease tax, where business owners pay a 6% levy on every rent contract for offices, retail stores warehouses and other property. The goal of the groups against the tax is to cut it by 1% in the upcoming fiscal year, and then cut it 1% a year until it's phased out. Business owners would save $339 million in the first two years of the plan if it succeeds, say officials with the Business Rent Tax Coalition.
“This is something that really impacts small businesses,” says Business Rent Tax Coalition official Greg Blose, grassroots development and engagement manager with the Florida Chamber of Commerce. “This isn't only some Rick Scott tax cut.”
The Business Rent Tax Coalition, backed by Florida Realtors, the Florida Ports Council and the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association, among other groups, is one of two organizations to support the cut. The other group is Cut My Rate 1 Percent, backed by a similar high-powered list of pro-business lobbying groups, including Associated Industries of Florida and the Manufacturers Association of Florida.
Those groups, in press releases, ads and public forums, regularly point out that Florida is the only state in the country to have this kind of tax. At stops on the Business Rent Tax Coalition tour, some area small business owners talk about what they could do, in hiring and reinvestment in their businesses, if the tax is phased out. “We aren't going to sit around and wait for Tallahassee to take action,” Blose tells Coffee Talk.
Even with Scott, a pair of bills and a contingent of support from the business community, Blose says a cut isn't a sure thing for the Legislative Session that ends March 11. A previous effort to cut the tax, in 2014, failed.
And while no group or official has come out specifically to defend the tax, it's more a matter of making the sausage in Tallahassee, Blose says. A cut in this tax means someone else might not be able to get the cut they want. “The issue really is about funding,” says Blose.
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