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Change in taxes sweet to some

Adopting sales tax codes uniform with other states could exempt ice cream.

TALLAHASSEE - Ice cream cones and certain candy bars would be exempt from taxation under a new recommendation aimed at taxing Internet and mail-order sales.

The Taxation and Budget Reform Commission recommended Tuesday that the Legislature take that step by revising Florida's tax code to include the definitions set by a group of states with the same goal.

It would include adopting uniform national definitions for various taxable and exempt items, including candy and frozen foods.

By some estimates the state loses more than $2-billion a year in sales tax on goods sold in Florida by out-of-state sellers.

All states, though, are in the same situation because the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled businesses cannot be required to comply with tax codes of more than 7,000 state and local governments across the nation.

Commissioner Randy Miller, a former state revenue director who's now executive vice president of the Florida Retail Federation, said Florida businesses are at a competitive disadvantage with out-of-state sellers who don't collect the state's sales tax.

"The people I'm employed by say, 'Hey, we want a level playing field,'" Miller said. "It's not the money."

The commission's proposal and a similar bill introduced by Sen. Steve Geller, D-Cooper City, would conform Florida's tax code definitions to those adopted so far by 22 other states as part of the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement.

About 1,100 companies have agreed to voluntarily collect taxes for the states that join the agreement, but it will take an act of Congress to require compliance. The agreement is seen as a first step in that direction.

Under the agreement, candy does not include any preparation that contains flour such as the wafers in Kit Kat bars, so they would be exempt. Ice cream and other frozen treats sold in cones and small cups, on sticks or in pints also would be untaxable, but baking chocolate, now exempt in Florida, would be taxed.

[Last modified February 27, 2008, 00:15:07]