Small Business Tax Holiday Gets Ok In House

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TALLAHASEE (CBSMiami/NSF) -- A House committee approved a plan to create a new sales-tax holiday for small businesses.

The holiday would be on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

The bill (HB 259), filed by Rep. Jay Fant, R-Jacksonville, would allow shoppers to avoid paying sales taxes on items they buy Nov. 28th at small businesses.

The House Finance & Tax Committee voted 13-1 to approve the measure, with Rep. John Tobia, R-Melbourne Beach, dissenting.

Fant said the bill, which would reduce state tax dollars by $32.7 million and local tax dollars by $7.3 million, would help "mom and pops." He added: "This is designed to really for the state of Florida to say, 'We're thinking about you, you're important to us, you're going to get a few more customers today,' '' Fant said.

Tobia, however, raised concerns about the bill showing favoritism.

"As much as I do want to support this, I think we're subjectively picking winners,'' Tobia said. "We've chosen a subjective number and decided we're going to offer tax breaks to one business and not another."

The Senate version of the proposal (SB 384) also has been approved by one committee and is scheduled to go before the Senate Finance and Tax Committee on Monday.

(The News Service of Florida contributed to this report.)