Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Florida retailers ask BP to pay for sales tax holidays

Tallahassee, Florida -- A new report estimates retailers in northwest Florida lost nearly a half billion dollars as a result of the BP oil spill and now they want the company to help offset those losses.

So they're asking BP to pay for a series of sales tax holidays.

The Florida Retail Federation is negotiating with BP right now and pushing the idea of special sales tax holidays for northwest Florida only.

Under the proposal, the tax breaks would be held once a month over the course of three to four months leading up to next summer. BP would pay the state the lost tax collections.

Rick McAllister of the Retail Federation says sales tax holidays are always a big success in Florida, so they would offer an effective way to help retailers recoup their losses.

"Our favorite proposal to BP, and I think they are intrigued by it as well, is don't give us any money. Simply reimburse the state for those sales taxes not collected during these periods. And so our concept would be to have a series, once a month for three or four months leading up to the summer, a long weekend sales tax shopping in these five counties."

See more here:
http://www.wtsp.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=162447&catid=19

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