Groups concerned about the plight of Florida small businesses are applauding Gov. Ron DeSantis for vetoing a bill that critics say would have put business owners at a disadvantage during tax audits initiated by the state Department of Revenue.
DeSantis vetoed Senate Bill 1382, authored by Sen. Joe Gruters (R-Sarasota), on June 24, saying that some of the bill’s provisions could infringe on taxpayers’ rights.
“I have concerns that this bill may subject small businesses to additional administrative processes that could prove challenging in a year where the Biden administration’s policies have led to record inflation and economic turmoil,” he said in his veto message.
SB 1382 would have codified the Department of Revenue’s rights and obligations during audits of Florida taxpayers. The measure would have excluded from litigation documents that were withheld by taxpayers during audits, and it would have added a presumption that department actions are valid when taxpayer documents are not provided, according to the Legislature’s summary of the bill.
The department downplayed the impact of the bill’s veto.
“As Gov. DeSantis stated in his letter regarding the veto, many of SB 1382’s provisions are already authorized in law,” department spokeswoman Bethany Wester told the Florida Record in an email. “The Department of Revenue will continue administering Florida’s tax laws in an effort to achieve the highest levels of voluntary compliance, and as the governor expressed, the Department will faithfully enforce those laws against anyone who violates Florida’s tax code.”
Small business representatives expressed relief that Gruters’ bill, which overwhelmingly passed both houses of the state Legislature, was rejected by DeSantis.
“Senate Bill 1382 would have stacked the deck against Main Street businesses by penalizing them if they tried to present additional evidence to a judge supporting their claims that the state’s tax estimate is incorrect,” Bill Herrle, the National Federation of Independent Business’ state executive director, said in a prepared statement. “If you made an honest mistake and overlooked one single document, the state would have automatically assumed you were trying to cheat the system and punished you by making you pay more.”
Florida TaxWatch President Dominic Calabro also thanked DeSantis for vetoing the bill and pledged to work with the department to balance taxpayer accountability and fairness.
“Many provisions of this bill posed unintended risks to taxpayers and, of particular concern, severe consequences for small businesses,” Calabro said in a prepared statement. “Balancing enforcement without infringing on the rights of hard-working Floridians is admittedly a difficult task, and while we appreciate efforts to amend the bill and establish necessary safeguards in the tax audit process, in its final form, it ultimately cast far too wide a net.”