Florida Senate - 2012               CS for CS for CS for SB 1060
       
       
       
       By the Committees on Budget Subcommittee on Finance and Tax;
       Community Affairs; and Communications, Energy, and Public
       Utilities; and Senators Bogdanoff and Lynn
       
       
       593-03833-12                                          20121060c3
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to communications services tax;
    3         creating the Communications Services Tax Working
    4         Group; housing the working group in the Department of
    5         Revenue for administrative purposes; providing for
    6         membership; limiting the reimbursement of members for
    7         per diem and travel expenses; providing issues that
    8         the working group will study; requiring the working
    9         group to hold meetings; providing for a report to the
   10         Governor and Legislature by a certain date; providing
   11         an effective date.
   12  
   13  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   14  
   15         Section 1. (1) The Communications Services Tax Working
   16  Group is created and housed for administrative purposes within
   17  the Department of Revenue.
   18         (2) The working group shall consist of 11 members as
   19  follows:
   20         (a) The executive director of the Department of Revenue, or
   21  his or her designee, who shall serve as chairperson and as a
   22  nonvoting member and who shall appoint the remaining members.
   23         (b) Six members, including, but not limited to,
   24  representatives of dealers, retailers, video service providers,
   25  direct-to-home satellite service providers, local phone service
   26  providers, and wireless providers who provide prepaid services.
   27         (c) Two representatives of counties.
   28         (d) Two representatives of municipalities.
   29         (3) Members of the working group are not entitled to
   30  receive reimbursement for per diem and travel expenses other
   31  than reimbursement provided by their respective group, office,
   32  or agency.
   33         (4) The working group shall:
   34         (a) Review national and state tax policies relating to the
   35  communications industry;
   36         (b) Review the amount of tax revenue that has been
   37  generated by the communications services taxes imposed or
   38  administered pursuant to chapter 202, Florida Statutes, and that
   39  is expected to be generated in the future, and the extent to
   40  which this revenue has been relied on to secure bonded
   41  indebtedness;
   42         (c) Review the state’s ability to design tax laws that are
   43  efficient and fairly administered, including whether the
   44  applicability of the tax laws is reasonably clear to
   45  communications service providers, retailers, customers, local
   46  governments, and state administrators. This review shall take
   47  into consideration the diverse and evolutionary nature of
   48  communication technology and the resulting services,
   49  particularly as it applies to prepaid wireless services;
   50         (d) Review the administrative burdens imposed on
   51  communications services providers, retailers, local governments,
   52  and the department under the current tax structure;
   53         (e) Identify options for reducing the administrative
   54  burdens and for developing a unified tax or reducing the high
   55  degree of local communications services tax rate variability,
   56  including the feasibility of distributing revenues based on
   57  formulas; and
   58         (f) Identify options that remove competitive advantages due
   59  to taxation for competing, functionally equivalent
   60  communications services.
   61         (5) The working group shall prepare a report that addresses
   62  each issue specified in subsection (4). The group shall submit
   63  the report to the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the
   64  Speaker of the House of Representatives by February 1, 2013. The
   65  working group shall hold meetings as frequently as deemed
   66  necessary by the chair to produce the report.
   67         Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.