All Online Purchases In Florida Will Be Taxed

Late last night, the governor signed into law that bill that would require retailers to collect a sales tax on all online purchases by Florida residents. Until now, only businesses that operated here in Florida had to collect a sales tax. You might remember once Amazon set up shop in Ruskin, Amazon purchases were taxed.

Many Florida business owners are cheering the move as they've had to face the disadvantage of having to collect the extra money. Scott Shalley told the Tampa Bay Business Journal the move creates a "level playing field." The governor's critics note that he signed the tax hike into law at 11:30 after the TV news went off the air as opposed to the big ceremony he had to sign the bill setting rules for protests.

The TBBJ says the money raised (they think it'll be about $1 million) by the tax will fund unemployment and lowering commercial rent taxes. The online sales tax goes into effect July 1 of this year. Sources: TBBJ, FLSenate.gov