Ron DeSantis Touts Florida's Sales Tax Holidays To 'Provide Relief For Consumers'

3 months ago

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) spoke about pauses or permanent lifts of sales taxes on consumer goods.

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Transcript

00:00and take a couple questions.

00:02Governor, you talked about reducing the state's debt

00:05in a post on X that you just before you got here.

00:08You also talked about it here.

00:10However, with some homeowners getting ready to pay more

00:12for items like TECO and DUI and citizen property insurance,

00:16how does reducing the state debt directly impact them today

00:21who are some people who are going to be paying more

00:23to live right here in the state of Florida?

00:26Well, one, I mean, being, doing fiscal mismanagement

00:30is not going to help anyone pay their electric bill.

00:32I mean, like, that's just, it's not the right thing to do.

00:35Two, within that that we've done,

00:38that budget that's spent less than last year's reducing debt,

00:42we did $1.5 billion in tax relief,

00:45all geared directly to help Floridians

00:50who are struggling with the Bidenflation.

00:53For example, all the sales tax holidays, back to school,

00:57we have that again.

00:58Disaster preparedness, we had one that ended in mid-June.

01:01We've got another one starting third week of August.

01:04All the supplies you need, tax-free.

01:07We're also doing July freedom summer month,

01:10outdoor recreation items, tax-free.

01:14Save money here in the summertime,

01:16and we even have the tool tax holiday.

01:18Then we did $500 million to reduce taxes and fees

01:23on homeowners insurance policies.

01:25And so we obviously can't control, you know,

01:28how much with the inflation, but we can provide that relief,

01:31and that's going to be good.

01:33Then we did almost a half a billion in toll relief.

01:36So you go, if you're a commuter,

01:38once you hit a certain number of tolls on your pass,

01:41you don't have to do anything.

01:43You just get 50% debit at the end of the month,

01:46and that saves people hundreds of dollars in some cases,

01:49depending on where they're doing.

01:51You know, you do have tolls in the Tampa Bay area.

01:53You have a lot of tolls in, like, Miami,

01:56a lot of tolls in Orlando.

01:58So some people spend $100 a month on tolls,

02:02because if you have a job

02:04where you've got to get in different parts of a region,

02:07you're going through all the time.

02:09So that's something that's very, very meaningful.

02:11And then I think the 2000,

02:13the last year's tax bill was $2.5 billion.

02:16Now, some of that, we don't count it towards this,

02:19but some of it is still there.

02:21These were permanent tax cuts.

02:23For example, in Florida, all baby items are tax-free.

02:26Diapers, wipes, strollers, cribs, you name it.

02:29Anything you need to raise a baby is now tax-free.

02:33So we have taken action,

02:35particularly over the last few years,

02:38to provide relief for consumers and Floridians.

02:41Given what's going on in Washington,

02:43there doesn't seem to be an end in sight.

02:45I think they're going to run a $2 trillion deficit this year,

02:50and their deficit on a monthly basis

02:52is like $150 billion, $160 billion,

02:56just to put that in perspective.

02:58That's the monthly federal deficit.

03:00Our entire state budget is $116.5 billion.

03:05So what they're doing has had big costs.

03:08So I think that the debt repayment

03:11is something that is part and parcel of having a state

03:15that is in good financial shape.

03:17We have a AAA credit rating,

03:19higher rated than the federal government,

03:21and then doing the things that we need

03:23that'll make a difference for people.

03:25The stuff we're doing with tax relief, that makes a difference.

03:28What we're doing to increase teacher salaries makes a difference.

03:31What we do when we do law enforcement

03:33recruiting bonuses of $5,000,

03:35that's in the budget again this year.

03:37That really makes a difference.

03:39What we're doing for conservation

03:41and making sure our springs have clean water

03:45and our beaches,

03:47all that contributes to the economy and our way of life.

03:50So these things all go together.

03:52But I think if you're doing things

03:54and you're not in a sound fiscal posture,

03:57the reality is the wheels will come off.

04:00And in Florida, we are the best managed state

04:03fiscally of all 50 states.

04:05And I don't even think it's close

04:07if you look at the numbers.

04:09APPLAUSE

Ron DeSantis Touts Florida's Sales Tax Holidays To 'Provide Relief For Consumers'

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