By John Ramano The Tampa Bay Times February 19, 2012 Something ridiculous is going on in the state Legislature right now. That’s the first part of the story. The easy-to-understand portion of the tale. In a time of declining revenue, severe budget cuts and frightening consequences for health care and education, our lawmakers have been [...]

By John Krotec Letter in the Bradenton Herald A sale is a sale — it’s that simple. The free market works best when government isn’t picking winners and losers in business. But Florida’s Internet sales tax loophole provides a backdoor subsidy to Internet-only retailers at the direct expense of the state’s Main Street merchants. A [...]

By KATHY KELLER, Daytona Beach Letter in the Daytona Beach News Journal February 19, 2012 I support lower taxes and less government. I also know that a level playing field is the cornerstone of a free market. So, if two bookstores were located side-by-side — let’s call them Store A and Store B — it [...]

By Dominic Calabro (Florida TaxWatch) In the Miami Herald February 18, 2012 Florida’s elected leaders need to end the competitive disadvantage faced by Florida retailers competing against out-of-state retailers for the same product sales, potentially costing Florida thousands of jobs and millions of dollars. For more than a decade, Florida TaxWatch has asserted that the [...]

The St. Augustine Record February 18, 2012 Since the advent of e-commerce — online retailers with products to sell — a major advantage has been a national and international marketplace devoid of sales tax collections for the most part. The rule is that if an online retailer does not have a physical presence in the [...]

The Lakeland Ledger February 18, 2012 Florida has a 6 percent tax on goods bought from out-of-state retailers — with no “physical presence” in the state — via the Internet or mail. Few Floridians are even aware of the tax, and even fewer pay it because the state allows its residents to make such purchases [...]

The Tampa Bay Times February 17, 2012 An influential state Senate committee looked past a short-term crisis Thursday to try to fix one of Florida’s systemic problems. The Senate Banking and Insurance Committee embraced a plan that would require most Internet vendors selling to Floridians to collect and remit sales taxes — finally eliminating a [...]

Richard Mullins The Tampa Tribune February 10, 2012 TAMPA — Florida lawmakers want Internet retailers such as Amazon to start collecting and handing over sales taxes when consumers in the Sunshine State shop online. The push to get it done may go nowhere this year, lawmakers say, in part because it appears Amazon simply can [...]

The Gainesville Sun February 9, 2012 Florida has a 6 percent tax on goods bought from out-of-state retailers — with no “physical presence” in the state — via the Internet or mail. But few Floridians are even aware of the tax, and even fewer pay it. Most online or mail-order retailers collect the so-called use [...]

Sarasota Herald-Tribune February 5, 2012 Florida has a 6 percent tax on goods bought from out-of-state retailers — with no “physical presence” in the state — via the Internet or mail. Few Floridians are even aware of the tax, and even fewer pay it because the state allows its residents to make such purchases under [...]