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Trio encourages review of sales tax exemptions

By JONI JAMES
Published February 8, 2005

TALLAHASSEE - A bipartisan trio of former state officials launched a campaign Monday that could potentially eliminate hundreds of sales tax exemptions.

The group wants voters to amend the state Constitution to tax services and force legislators to defend hundreds of other exemptions.

Floridians Against Inequities in Rateshope to put three amendments before Florida voters next year.

It's similar to a measure the Florida Supreme Court killed six months ago.

"Even though we didn't agree with (the court), we took their words to heart and went back with our attorneys and drafted three constitutional amendments," said former Republican Senate President John McKay, FAIR's chairman.

Each measure requires 61,101 signatures to qualify for a new review by the Supreme Court and 611,011 signatures from registered voters to get on the November 2006 ballot.

The sales tax will generate $19.4-billion this year, but another $43.6-billion could be raised if all the exemptions were eliminated, FAIR contends.

Lawn mowers are taxed, for example, but lawn services are not. Dog food is taxed, ostrich feed is not.

"Many of these exemptions don't make any sense at all," said former Republican Comptroller Bob Milligan, who along with McKay and former Democratic Attorney General Bob Butterworth formed FAIR.

McKay pushed a tax review measure through the Legislature in 2002, but the Supreme Court killed it because the language was confusing.

Last year, the court found a similar initiative violated the constitution's single-subject rule for amendments.

The new initiative is expected to face fierce opposition from business groups.

Florida TaxWatch, whose leadership includes executives of some of Florida's most influential businesses, condemned the effort, saying it should be left to the Legislature.

Republican Gov. Jeb Bush also criticized the effort. He said there's little reason to tinker with a tax system he says allowed Florida to rebound faster than most states from the recent recession. He also argued the measure did not belong in the state Constitution.

But Milligan and McKay said lawmakers have had more than a half-century to review Florida's tax system and haven't.

"We are not changing the tax system at all, we are just asking that the exemptions be reviewed," Milligan said.

FAIR's three proposed amendments:

--Require the Legislature to review, by July 1, 2008, all the state's sales tax exemptions except those for food, health services, prescription drugs, rent, electricity or heating fuel. Any exemption not reauthorized by lawmakers would sunset Jan. 1, 2009.

--Requires services, such as hair cuts and advertising, to be taxed starting Jan. 1, 2009, unless lawmakers approve specific exemptions.

--Requires new exemptions to include a statement of public purpose.

[Last modified February 8, 2005, 08:53:39]