Legislature balks at exemption increase for second straight year

Gov. Rick Scott's crusade to wipe out Florida's corporate income tax marches on, but for the second year in a row, the Legislature ground the procession to a halt.

When Scott came into office, he was intent on ending the 5.5 percent tax on corporations by 2018, asking the lawmakers in his first year to slash the tax to 3 percent and gradually phasing it out. Since legislators weren't receptive to that plan, Scott began to ask for gradually higher tax exemptions on corporate incomes.

It was something of a back-door method of cutting businesses a break. In 2011 Scott got the Legislature to increase the exemption from $5,000 to $25,000. The next year, they took it up to $50,000. That resulted in more than 12,000 Florida businesses being exempt from paying corporate income tax at all. 

In 2013 Scott tried to bump up the exemption to $75,000, in an attempt to exempt 2,000 more businesses from the corporate income tax. The Legislature wasn't biting, with officials balking at the lost tax revenue, estimated at up to $20 million. The corporate income tax brings in about $2 billion in total revenue each year.

In 2014, Scott tried again, proposing to increase the exemption to $75,000. That proposal, SB 134, made it out of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Finance and Tax before dying in Appropriations on May 2.

The Legislature did pass several other, smaller-scale tax cuts and credits this year, including breaks for the telecommunications industry, research and development expenses, commercial electricity rates, unemployment compensation and equipment manufacturing. Scott touted these and other breaks among 40 claimed tax cuts enacted during his administration.

On eliminating the corporate income tax, Scott spokesman John Tupps said the governor "will continue to work towards this goal."

For the second year in a row, Scott suggested pushing the corporate income tax exemption to $75,000. For the second year in a row, the Legislature did not make the exemption law. We rate this promise Stalled.

Editor's note, Jan. 6, 2015: This update has been corrected to show how much tax revenue the corporate income tax brings in to the state.