Rick Scott Continues Push to Eliminate Manufacturing Tax

Gov. Rick Scott is continuing his call to eliminate taxes on the purchase of equipment by manufacturing companies, planning stops today at Honeywell Manufacturing in Clearwater and Coastal Steel Manufacturing in Cocoa to stress his legislative call.

Today, there are 17,500 manufacturing companies in Florida that employ over 300,000 Florida families. The fact that Honeywell has created 2,700 of those job opportunities for Florida families is great, Scott stated in a release after visiting the Honeywell plant.

I am confident that eliminating barriers for manufacturers like Honeywell in this coming legislative session will allow them to grow even more and give more Florida families the ability to live their version of the American dream.

Scotts proposal would eliminate the need for businesses to demonstrate meeting a set production output mark in order to qualify for the sales tax exemption.

The proposal has already sparked support from the Florida Chamber of Commerce, Associated Industries of Florida, the National Federation of Independent Businesses, the Florida Port Council, Florida Tucking Association, Small Business Development Council, Florida Economic Development Council, Florida Retail Federation, Transportation Builders Association, and Florida United Business Association, along with Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn, St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, and Miami Mayor Carlos Gimenez.