TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA — On Wednesday, Senator Blaise Ingoglia (R-Spring Hill) and Representative Toby Overdorf (R-Palm City) filed two taxation bills seeking to protect Floridians from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) expansion by the federal government.
In the summer of 2022, President Biden signed the “Inflation Reduction Act,” a government spending bill including a provision to fund over 87,000 new IRS agents. Members of the incoming Republican majority in Congress have vowed to defund the legislation.
“The prospect of 87,000 more IRS agents is terrifying,” said Senator Ingoglia. “So, while our friends in Congress try to derail funding for this ludicrous band of harassers, we, at the state level, are arming our small businesses with the tools they need to fight back if targeted due to political affiliation or ideological differences.”
The two bills, SB 372/HB 507 Federal Taxation and SB 374/HB 509 Internal Revenue Service Civil Liability Trust Fund, would:
- Require state-chartered financial institutions to generate a regular report on IRS engagement or inquiries into Floridian accounts. This would help identify potential patterns of discrimination or targeting.
- Mandate Florida businesses receive 1099’s from online apps reporting digital monetary transactions above $600.
- Establish a Civil Liability Trust Fund to help Florida’s small businesses defend or sue the IRS in the event of politically motivated audits or federal overreach.
In an effort to stop the “small business shakedown” by the federal government, Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis proposed various pillars for protection late last year. Patronis said that Florida’s economy is growing so fast there’s no doubt the Biden Administration will target Florida’s middle class to fund the federal government’s bloated programs.
Representative Overdorf said he appreciates CFO Patronis’ leadership on this issue and is “grateful to work with two champions of small business to ensure President Biden’s IRS overreach is kept in check and that Florida entrepreneurs can continue to thrive in the free state of Florida.”
