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Article
Courtesy of Florida Politics
By
Jacob Ogles
Published April 20, 2025
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WATCH VIDEO |
Tax relief proposals from Senate President Ben Albritton didn’t include a
rebate on property taxes proposed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. But the Senate
leader says he isn’t rejecting the idea completely.
In an extended
interview with CBS Miami’s Jim DeFede, the Wauchula Republican said
he feels the idea needs further analysis.
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“We’re going to study
this. We’re going to look at it this summer,” Albritton told
DeFede. “We’re going to dig into it, and we’re going to try
to figure out what’s the best mechanism to provide relief
where it needs to happen.”
Albritton has leaned into a proposal to eliminate sales tax
completely on clothing and shoes priced at or under $75.
While the current Senate proposal would end the levy on
those goods for a year, the chamber will explore the
possibility of the cuts being recurring.
He said there was significant intention in putting the
exemptions only on lower-priced goods.
“We were looking at — call them necessities, right?”
Albritton said. “That really is it. So, at 75 bucks …
pajamas, T-shirts, underwear. You know, it’s not a $300
jacket or something like that, right? It’s the things that
everybody has to utilize.”
The approach differs from Speaker Daniel Perez’s plans for
sales tax reform. The House leader has proposed cutting the
state sales tax across the board from 6% to 5.25%. But
Albritton said that may be too much for appropriators to
swallow. |
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Florida Senate President Ben Albritton on condo
reform Senate President Ben Albritton is emerging as the most
influential player in Tallahassee this session as he is the swing
vote between the ongoing war between House Speaker Danny Perez and
Governor Ron DeSantis.
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“Is it going to be hard to do a $5 billion tax reduction
recurring with sales tax? That’s going to be hard because that’s going to
impact the budget pretty substantially,” Albritton said.
He told the news outlet that Florida doesn’t have
significant waste that needs to be cut from state spending.
“You know, Florida is not Washington, right? They are DOGE-ing Washington,
and I’m thankful they are, because the spending up there has been out of
control. We’ve done a very good job in Florida,” he said.
“The Governor’s recommendations, the House budget and the Senate budget are
all, per capita, less than we spent last year. We’re a growing state, so
when we make these decisions, there is a minimum threshold of what the state
budget needs to be to make sure that the garbage is being picked up, you
know? That the power is being delivered. All the things that state
government is required to do, right? I don’t know where that sweet spot is.”
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