Legislative Update: Governor signs SB 50, Supporting Sales Tax Fairness in Florida

This week, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law SB 50 (Taxation), which protects local businesses by requiring out-of-state companies to collect and remit sales tax on the transactions they make with Floridians.

This issue was one of the League’s priorities, and thanks to President Tony Ortiz’s leadership, the local businesses in our communities will finally be on a level playing field with their online competitors. This change will help ensure that money spent by Floridians stays in our state and supports our businesses, retains jobs and strengthens our municipalities.

“We’re all about local – supporting it, protecting it, advocating for it. And while this bill addresses a statewide issue, the positive impacts that it will have at the local level can’t be understated. No longer will out-of-state retailers, who don’t contribute anything to the betterment of our communities, have an unfair advantage over our local businesses which are not only part of our local communities but which have a vested interest in them and their success. Thanks to this bill, our brick-and-mortar stores will finally get the support and protection needed to help them succeed. And when our local businesses and economies are successful, our cities and our state are stronger.”

- Florida League of Cities President Tony Ortiz, commissioner for the City of Orlando

We want to thank the League’s Finance, Tax & Personnel Committee, led by Chair and Orlando Commissioner Robert Stuart, as well as those members who called, emailed, testified and contacted their legislators asking them to support this important piece of legislation. We also ask that you thank Sen. Joe Gruters and Reps. Chuck Clemons and Chip LaMarca for sponsoring sales tax fairness bills in the House and Senate this session.

With less than two weeks left in the 2021 Legislative Session, there are a number of important bills still in play that could impact Florida's municipalities, so we encourage you to continue your advocacy efforts by reaching out to your lawmakers, responding to our action alerts and signing up for our up-to-the-minute text messaging service by texting the keyword Home Rule to 50457.