Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a news conference May 9, 2023, to sign several education bills and increases in teacher pay. | Rebecca Blackwell, AP
Published on February 3, 2025 at 11:14 am
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Gov. Ron DeSantis late Sunday proposed a $115.6 billion budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year that calls for increasing pay for state law enforcement officers and firefighters, eliminating a commercial lease tax and holding a new sales tax “holiday” on guns and ammunition.
The proposal is an initial step as lawmakers prepare to negotiate a final budget during the regular legislative session, which will start March 4. It also was released as DeSantis quarrels with House and Senate leaders over an immigration bill that lawmakers passed during a special session last week.
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The 2025-2026 fiscal year will start July 1.
The governor’s proposal includes cutting 741 government positions and setting a goal of paying down 50% of the state’s tax-supported debt by the 2027-2028 fiscal year.
The proposal calls for $118.3 million in pay increases for state law enforcement officers and firefighters. Entry level law enforcement officers would see pay pushed up 20%, while veteran law enforcement officers and state firefighters would receive 25% increases, according to a summary of the proposal from the governor’s office.
The package also calls for $2.2 billion in tax cuts that mostly would come through the elimination over two years of a tax that businesses pay on commercial leases, a move long sought by business groups.
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Under DeSantis’ proposal, the tax would go from 2% to 1% on Jan. 1, 2026, and then be crossed out a year later. The lease tax, imposed since 1969, went from 4.5% to 2% last year as part of a 2021 deal to require out-of-state retailers to collect sales taxes on purchases made by Floridians.
The governor’s proposal also calls for the return of sales tax holidays, allowing shoppers to avoid paying sales taxes on school supplies and clothes in August, on disaster supplies at the start and the peak of the hurricane season and on recreational purchases throughout July.
He also proposed a “Second Amendment Summer” sales tax holiday between Memorial Day and the Fourth of July that would temporarily remove sales taxes on ammunition, firearms and related items. The new tax holiday would save shoppers an estimated $8 million, according to the governor’s office.
The budget proposal doesn’t seek tuition or fee increases for students at Florida colleges or universities, and would maintain funding for the Bright Futures Scholarship Program at $632 million.
Per-student funding in the kindergarten through 12th grade system would increase by $222, to $9,205.
In the environmental portion of the budget, DeSantis proposed $805 million for Everglades restoration projects. He also proposed such things as $3 million for removing invasive Burmese pythons from the Everglades and constructing shooting and archery facilities in Liberty and Polk counties.
