A Florida Politics Publication | April 2025
Senate President Ben Albritton speaks during the opening day of the 2025 Legislative Session. Photo: Colin Hackley
Sen Prez Albritton floats new tax cut BY BRENDAN FARRINGTON
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or weeks, Senate President Ben Albritton has been asked if he’s going to support Gov. Ron DeSantis’ proposal to get rid of property taxes or House Speaker Daniel Perez’s proposal to cut the state’s 6% sales tax by 0.75 percentage points. Now he’s offering his own suggestion: eliminating the sales tax on clothing up to a certain amount. “Step back and look at the average Florida family. What are the must haves? I don’t mean food, which is not taxed in grocery stores,” Albritton said. “Clothing.” So halfway through Session, he has asked his staff to come up with a plan. “If you’re a two-income household and you’re raising two kids, that’s a big deal,” he said. “I love
struggles through another recession without the reliable income the state now has. Once a tax is cut, it’s nearly impossible to restore. Not only that, but about 20% of the sales tax collected by the state comes out of the pockets of tourists, he said. “The two proposals out of the Governor and the House are serious proposals. We’re just taking a little different look at it. Is there a blend of all of the above that can achieve the type of balance across the landscape in Florida so that it’s targeted more so to those who really need it than not?” A sales tax exemption would help Florida families for years to come. For years, the state has had a short tax holiday on back-to-school
“If you’re a two-income household and you’re raising two kids, that’s a big deal.” – BEN ALBRITTON
the idea of the property tax and the sales tax, but we’re exploring ideas too to try to find that middle. How do we target some of this to those families too?” While he’s open to some version of the DeSantis and Perez proposals, Albritton is concerned about what will happen if Florida
items, including clothes. Families would no longer have to wait for those few days of tax freedom. “You want some really good reading? Read the Florida tax handbook. It’s really interesting and I’ve been working my way through that trying to stimulate ideas,” he said. “Where is there a point for those
folks that we can drill down in?” The tax cut issue is sure to dominate the rest of Session, and negotiations probably won’t get settled until the final days. That also applies to the budget, where the House and Senate are about $4 billion apart. And at a time when the federal Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is slashing spending and cutting programs and President Donald Trump’s tariffs send a shock wave
through the stock market, Albritton wants to take a thoughtful approach to the state’s spending. Albritton wants a Florida version of DOGE, but he assures Floridians they won’t see the chaos being created in Washington because Florida is much more financially stable. He said that Florida has already made a practice of continually looking at ways to make government more efficient, he said.
“Years ago, when Jeb Bush was Governor, they began this conversation — long-range planning processes, different fiscal responsibility kind of stuff. Kind of like Florida DOGE 1.0,” he said. “It’s served the state well. We continue to have balanced budgets; our economies have largely been resilient. Those things have worked. My goal is to enhance.” Instead of Elon Musk’s theatrical chainsaw waving, Albritton said Continued on page 6
Budget chief sees good things ahead despite ‘crapshoot’ budget process BY JANELLE IRWIN TAYLOR
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assing a balanced budget is, perhaps, one of the most daunting tasks facing lawmakers each Legislative Session. First, there’s the Governor’s proposed budget to consider, which offers a blueprint for administrative priorities that could signal possible vetoes should the legislative product differ wildly. There are also proposals from both the House and Senate that must be reconciled before sending an approved budget to the Governor. And even before reconciliation, there are member projects to be weighed and sifted through.
This year’s budget process could be particularly challenging, with glaring daylight between all three budget proposals on first release. Gov. Ron DeSantis was first to the plate, with his $116 billion “Focus on Fiscal Responsibility” budget that comes in about $3 billion below the current fiscal year budget. The Senate, keen to also keep its eye on fiscal responsibility, proposed a budget of about $2 billion less than the current one, at $117 billion. The House, meanwhile, went way lower, proposing a budget framework for the 202526 fiscal year that is a full $4.4 billion less than the Senate’s version. “I hate to say it’s a crapshoot,”
said Sen. Ed Hooper, the upper chamber’s Appropriations Chair. But don’t let Hooper’s token “tell it like it is” style send the wrong message. As put to the test as the Senate’s top budget chief is, there’s still plenty of confidence. “Every Senator feels, and frankly a large portion of the lobby corps feels, we have addressed a large percentage of their needs,” Hooper said. But he acknowledged that the reconciliation process can be a challenge. It begins with appropriations committees in both chambers reviewing the proposals and Continued on page 2
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