In other words, given that it was a tax credit from the state, this was a taxpayer-funded subsidy for insurance companies. According to Negron, though, this subsidy is thirty years old, and though the state of Florida once economically prioritized the insurance industry, the state’s priorities have changed.
Negron: “We can take the revenue we save from eliminating a tax credit that only benefits one industry and use it to provide a meaningful, monthly, and permanent tax cut for Florida’s families and businesses.”
Sen. Flores explains that Florida’s CST is among the highest in the country. “In 2015, we made great progress by permanently reducing Florida’s CST by 1.73%. This year, we can reduce this burdensome tax even further and provide additional monthly savings to every Floridian with a cell phone or cable or satellite TV.”
This is bound to upset the insurance industry, however, since insurance companies have freely deducted 15% of their employees’ salaries from their annual corporate tax bill – which has persisted since the 1980s. With this new legislation, though, insurance companies in the state of Florida will no longer see this rather sizable tax break to which they’ve become so accustomed.
