State Rep. Kevin Ambler (R-Tampa) has a simple, private-sector solution to Florida’s difficulty with collecting taxes due on remote purchases made over the internet: have credit card companies collect and remit the taxes on Florida’s behalf. If approved, his proposed legislation could pump much-needed money back into the State University System of Florida and help FAMU’s shrinking budget.Ambler is sponsoring a bill to implement Internet Sales Tax Automated Revenue Tracking (iSTART) in Florida. The iSTART bill calls on the Department of Revenue to contract with a company to develop software that credit card companies would use to automatically charge the sales tax due for internet purchases. The software would automatically exempt purchases that are not subject to the sales tax, such as groceries and medicine.
According to some estimates, Florida misses out in as much as $2B in revenue each year by failing to collect the sales tax due on items bought over the interent. The iSTART bill would fix this problem and also reduce Florida’s sales tax by a penny after internet collections surpass $5B.
Ambler believes his idea is better than the proposal for Florida to join the Streamlined Sales Tax Project because the later simply depends on internet and out-of-state retailers to voluntarily collect the sales tax.
For years, the Florida Retail Federation has called on state legislators to improve the state's remote sales tax collection process. "We are, certainly, for collecting those taxes that are legally due and not collected now from these remote sellers," said FRF president Rick McAllister. "The current situation is totally unfair to brick-and-mortar retailers."
iSTART (HB 1443) already has a companion in the Florida Senate (SB 2552) sponsored by Sen. Thad Altman (R-Viera), chairman of the finance and taxation committee. Rep. Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff (R-Fort Lauderdale), chair of House’s finance and tax council, has also signaled that she is very interested in the iSTART initiative as well.
Ambler's bill is another revenue-creating option that FAMUans could support as way to save the university from worse budget cuts.