Officials have ideas about how to ease the burden, but similar past efforts have gone nowhere.
By JONI JAMES
Published March 27, 2004
TALLAHASSEE - Florida drivers would see a 5-cent to 10-cent drop in gas prices this summer under a plan state Rep. Bob Henriquez, D-Tampa, plans to unveil Monday.
Henriquez's proposal comes as one of the state's most prominent Republicans, Attorney General Charlie Crist, has his own solution to soaring gas prices: Repeal a 19-year-old state law that prohibits vendors from selling gas below their wholesale price.
Both men have said it's time to provide relief for drivers.
"For the last three days running we've had the highest gas rates," Henriquez said Friday, a day after statewide gas rates hit a high of $1.77 a gallon. "I'd like to see (a cut) for probably a two-month period."
Cutting 10 cents off the state's gas taxes, now 22.2-cents per gallon, would cost the state about $83-million in lost tax revenue per month, according to legislative staff.
Henriquez said he'll spend the weekend refining his proposal.
It was unclear Friday if he'll have the needed support among Republican lawmakers or Gov. Jeb Bush, whose office declined to comment until after it sees the plan.
Republicans have their own plans for tax cuts during the 2004-05 year.
Bush and House and Senate leaders support giving shoppers a 9-day back-to-school sales tax holiday in August. And Bush and the House also are proposing another rollback on the intangibles tax that well-off Floridians pay on investments and savings.
If history is a guide, both Henriquez and Crist face uphill battles. Then-House Speaker John Thrasher failed in 2000 to pass a temporary drop in gas taxes when members of his own party questioned if the tax, paid by wholesalers, would actually be passed on to customers.
And former Attorney General Bob Butterworth failed in 2001 to overcome objections from independent and free-standing gas stations to convince the Legislature to repeal the state's Motor Fuel Marketing Practices Act.
The law long has been the bane of major retailers such as Wal-Mart, who wish to offer their customers access to below-price gasoline to lure them into their stores. A Florida court ruled in 2001 that Wal-Mart's former practice of selling discounted, prepaid gasoline cards for Murphy Oil stations was illegal under the marketing law.
Bush's response to Crist's proposal was tepid Thursday.
"That's the Murphy Oil issue," Bush said and then sighed. "I'd have to look at the details."
- Staff writers Alisa Ulferts and Steve Bousquet contributed to this report.
