Tax

168. Ag Practices Act

We support amending the Ag Practices Act to preempt local governments from taxing or assessing fees on agriculture lands or operations. (TAX)

169. Agricultural Assessment (Greenbelt)

We recognize the intent of Florida's agricultural land classification and assessment law to be the maintenance of the economic viability of agriculture. We continue to support the law's strict application of bona fide, good faith commercial agriculture and forestry operations. The commercial agricultural use of the land must be a primary consideration when determining entitlement to agricultural classification.

We are opposed to an ad-valorem recapture tax. (TAX)

170. Agricultural Taxes

We oppose any change in the Florida Retail Sales Tax Law, which would result in multiple taxation. We support the exemptions under the present tax law on materials which are used to produce or manufacture consumer products.

When a clear and demonstrated public need for additional revenues has been proven, we favor a sales tax rather than ad-valorem tax.

We support the elimination of the sales tax on electricity for agricultural processing or packing plants.

We are opposed to sales tax on insurance premiums and agents’ commissions and we oppose any extension or expansion of sales tax on services.

We support the enhancement of agricultural energy exemptions.

We recommend that no sales tax be collected on any fuels if such tax is refundable to the farmer.

To keep Florida competitive with other states, we need a livestock sales tax exemption for out of state buyers that allows a reasonable amount of time in which to ship purchased livestock out of state.

We are opposed to constitutional referendums that mandate sales tax exemption reviews. (TAX)

171. Alternative Minimum Tax

We support the elimination of the Federal Alternative Minimum Tax. (TAX)

172. Farm Building Fees

We oppose any fees for counties or municipalities on buildings on farms. (TAX)

173. Federal Estate Tax

We support the permanent elimination of the Federal Estate Tax. (TAX)

174. Homestead Exemption

We believe fairness dictates that all real property owners should be required to share in the responsibility of funding our local governments and schools. Therefore, we recommend that all homestead properties be taxed on fifty percent of the value up to $100,000 of value. (TAX)

175. Local Government Taxes/Assessments/Fees on Agriculture

Property that has a land use designation of agriculture, timber or aquaculture does not burden local government services to the same extent as urban and suburban lands and therefore should not be taxed or assessed at the same level as urban properties with other land use designations to support those services.

We support incentives to agricultural producers from county governments to allow agricultural property to remain in agriculture. (TAX)

176. Local or State Taxes

We oppose any local or state tax, fee or assessment on farms. (TAX)

177. Municipal Service Districts

We oppose the taxation of land that does not specifically benefit from taxes levied under municipal service districts and municipal or county taxing districts. We support sunset provisions of five years for special created districts, and all those boards will be elected by residents of that district. We believe all special districts should be accountable. We affirm the right of private landowners to establish special agricultural taxing districts based on the one-vote-per-acre principle to tax themselves to address specific issues. (TAX)

178. Payment-in-Lieu-of-Taxes

We support legislation to allow local governments to receive a fair and equitable annual payment for an agreeable timeframe not less than 20 years (including adjustments for increased land value) from the acquiring agency in lieu of lost ad valorem taxes, regardless of size or population of the county, when private lands are purchased for the public.

We recommend that any government agency or water management district that purchases land to be held in reserve or to be protected should be required to pay a property equalization tax on this property to the local county commission, school board and other governmental units normally funded from ad valorem taxes so that the local tax impact is minimized. (TAX)

179. Reduction of Unemployment Compensation Tax

State unemployment compensation trust funds should be kept at a reasonable level. Because of the current excessive levels in the trust fund, we support a reduction in unemployment compensation tax. (TAX)

180. State Taxes

We urge government on all levels to eliminate wasteful financial practices and improve accountability before giving any consideration to the concept of raising taxes.

We oppose a state personal income tax.

We oppose the adoption of a gross-receipts tax by the Florida Legislature.

We are opposed to a state personal income tax on Sub-chapter S corporations and partnerships.

We support changing the formula that requires any state or regional agency to reimburse counties for any lost tax revenues as the result of acquisition of land, so that all counties are included.

We urge property appraisers to utilize a consistent application of existing laws when determining agricultural classifications. (TAX)

181. Tangible Personal Property Assessment

We are opposed to tangible personal property taxes on farm equipment. (TAX)

182. Tax Exemption for Parts

We support the sales tax exemption for parts and repairs on used agricultural equipment exempt from sales tax under section 12-A-1-087. (TAX)

183. Tax Exemption for Rabbit Feed

We recommend that the State statute which deals with livestock feed, Section 212.08 (7) (d), F.S. be amended to include rabbits raised commercially for consumption in the definition of livestock and therefore exempt rabbit producers from paying sales tax on rabbit feed. (TAX)

184. Tax Exemptions

We support a phase-out of sales and use tax for all inputs for farms (TAX)

185. Tax Reform

We support reasonable and just tax reform of the Federal Tax Code, to include the repeal of the 16th Amendment. The changes should not cause undue additional taxes or increase costs to agriculture. (TAX)

186. Timber Casualty Losses and Reforestation

The current Tax Reform Act should be amended to provide income averaging, to further reduce capital gains tax rates, and to allow up to $20,000 of reforestation expenses to be expensed in the year the expenses are incurred. The tax code should also provide for reasonable casualty loss for agricultural uses. We favor no change in the current treatment of tax-deferred exchanges of property under Section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code. (FORESTRY)