House Passes Back to School Sales Tax Holiday

The House passed a 3 day sales tax holiday running from August 13 until August 15 without opposition. During that time, books, clothes, shoes and bookbags under $50 and school supplies under $10 would be exempt from sales tax.

We have record unemployment, record foreclosures, record drops in property prices and record deficits, said Rep. David Rivera, R-Miami, who introduced the bill. The people of Florida need tax relief and they need it now.

We found these three days would benefit the state of Florida by $400 million-both small and large retailers alike, said Rep. Anitere Flores, R-Miami.

Democrats backed the measure but attempted to extend the holiday.

It is revenue positive, it generates more revenue than it loses, said Incoming Democratic Leader Rep. Ron Saunders, D-Key West.

Saunders offered an amendment to extend the holiday to 10 days, mirroring a proposal in the Senate, but withdrew it. He then offered an amendment to make the sales tax holiday permanent. This is the number one priority of the Florida Retail Federation, Saunders said before withdrawing the amendment.

We would love to do 10 days, we would love to do 15 days, said Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Ft. Lauderdale. This is not realistic with our budget situation.