New laws bring new tax breaks in a new year

Other measures impose new rules for easing hospital patients' pain and requiring courses of restaurant workers.

©Associated Press

© St. Petersburg Times, published January 1, 2001

TALLAHASSEE -- Investors, farmers, rocket scientists and movie moguls will be able to breathe a little more easily as New Year's Day ushers in several new tax breaks in Florida.

The biggest cut is the reduction in the intangibles tax on stocks and bonds. The new law lowers the tax from $1.50 to $1 per $1,000 in investment holdings at an estimated cost to the state of about $243-million.

Other new laws that kick in today require hospitals to take more measures to provide pain relief to patients if they want to keep accreditation. Many Florida hospitals already have policies in place to meet those standards.

Restaurants, too, are busy trying to comply with a new state law that requires all employees who handle food to take a course on food safety.

Christina Johnson, spokeswoman for the state Department of Business and Professional Regulations, said the certification must be renewed after three years and costs $6 per employee. Anyone who works with the storage, preparation, display or handling of food must be trained, though restaurants with existing training programs for their employees are required only to get state approval of those programs.

"As long as restaurants had approved training, they're okay," Johnson said.

Previously, a restaurant could get by if one person had been trained and kept an eye on everyone else. Now everyone must go through training. About half of the state's restaurant workers have received the training.

After today, inspectors will check restaurants three times a year. Restaurants whose employees are not certified on the first inspection will get a warning. After that, they will be cited and fined.

"We have so many restaurants in Florida, we want to make sure everyone is educated," Johnson said.

The new year also means more tax cuts, part of the lower levies enacted by Gov. Jeb Bush and the Republican controlled state Legislature.

Bush aims to eliminate the intangibles tax over four years. Critics call the measure a tax break for the rich, but Florida TaxWatch president Dominic Calabro said the very wealthy simply move their money out of state to avoid paying what he calls an "archaic tax in a modern society."

Most of the people paying the tax are "of moderate income and moderate means," said Calabro, who recommended the tax break. "It's a benefit to middle- to upper-middle-income Floridians, retirees and senior citizens, and good for the overall image of the state."

A variety of industries will also be the beneficiaries of tax breaks beginning this year.

Sales tax on farm equipment, a move expected to cost the state about $3.5-million this year, will be reduced.

Aimed at expanding a growing niche in the state, an estimated $2-million in tax breaks are going to the space and defense industry, while a $4.2-million cut is headed for the movie and sound recording industry.

Those tax advantages come as part of an effort to lure more clean industry, high-tech jobs to the state, said Senate legislative analyst Ellen Fournier.

"The idea is that Florida needs to get away from being just a service, tourism kind of economy and to improve employment opportunities in high-paying, high-tech kinds of jobs," Fournier said.

Another law going into effect changes state elections laws. Housekeeping of more than 40,000 financial disclosure forms will be transferred to the Ethics Commission. State officials who fail to file their financial disclosures on time will automatically be fined $50 a day.

As part of the change, anyone who is required by the state to publicly disclose financial interests -- typically elected officials and appointees -- must file final disclosure statements within 60 days of leaving their public office.

That closes a loophole that allowed former House Speaker Bolley "Bo" Johnson to collect more than $500,000 from people doing business with the state without reporting the sources of the income. Johnson and his wife went to federal prison for filing false tax returns.

Also going into effect is a law opening up sales tax exemptions to more charitable, non-profit organizations and a law requiring law enforcement academies to perform background checks on recruits.

- Information from Knight Ridder Newspapers was used in this report.

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