Editorial: Level playing field for Florida retailers

Florida needs to stop putting in-state retailers at a competitive disadvantage, while also giving away hundreds of millions of dollars in state revenue each year.

Legislation introduced by state Rep. Chuck Clemons, R-Newberry, would ensure that Florida’s bricks-and-mortar retailers play by the same rules as online competitors from outside the state.

HB 159 would require retailers that have no physical presence in Florida, but make a large number of sales here, to collect Florida’s sales tax on items shipped to the state.

“We know that Florida businesses provide jobs for Florida families and support Florida communities,” said Clemons, as reported by FloridaPolitics.com. “But right now, Florida retailers are competing with two hands tied behind their back. This legislation will level the playing field for them to compete in a global marketplace.”

Companion legislation, SB 126, was introduced by Sen. Joe Gruters of Sarasota, who is chairman of the Florida Republican Party, and is co-sponsored by state Sen. Keith Perry, R-Gainesville. The measure is expected to generate as much as $670 million annually.

Under current state law, Floridians are responsible for paying the state’s 6% sales tax voluntarily when they buy something online from out-of-state retailers who don’t collect it. But few people go through the extra work of filing out the forms and sending in the money, and there is little enforcement of the law.

A 2018 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court paved the way for states to require large out-of-state retailers to collect sales taxes on their own. Florida and Missouri are the only two states that have failed to modernize their laws in response to the ruling, and Missouri is expected to do so in its current legislative session.

Business groups including the Florida Retail Federation and Florida Chamber of Commerce back the bills introduced in our state Legislature, and they also have a long list of mostly Republican co-sponsors. Despite all this, legislative leaders have avoided addressing the problem.

The Senate bill passed one committee vote back in October, while the House version hasn’t even had a hearing. Last year, similar legislation died in a Senate committee before receiving a full vote in the chamber.

Some Florida Republicans may worry that the measure looks like a new tax, but it is nothing of the sort. Several major internet retailers such as Amazon already collect sales taxes in Florida, and the legislation would only ensure that other retailers that make a substantial number of sales in the state do the same.

Floridians, after all, are currently supposed to be paying the sales tax on their own when online retailers don’t do it for them. HB 159 and SB 126 would simply create a more effective system, while ensuring that Florida retailers and state revenues don’t suffer.