TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Florida legislative leaders Friday accepted as inevitable repeal of the state's controversial services tax, giving up hope of retaining the nearly $1 billion anticipated from the levy.
House Speaker Jon Mills and Senate President John Vogt agreed to a plan repealing the tax effective April 1 and creating a commission to propose replacement taxes for the 1988 Legislature next spring.
They conceeded defeat in their effort to replace the services tax with a small increase in the general sales tax.
Gov. Bob Martinez, who advocated the tax but switched when public opinion turned against it, said he hoped the agreement was a first step toward resolving an issue that has divided lawmakers and damaged his own political standing.
'A controversy is never a victory,' the governor told reporters. 'The thing is to put it aside so we can deal with '88. The only way we can get there is, quite frankly, to bury this tax now.'
Martinez said the April 1 repeal date might be acceptable, but he wanted to confer with his aides and legislative Republicans before committing himself to the Mills-Vogt agreement.
By setting an April 1 repeal date, lawmakers hope to hold the revenue loss to under $250 million, the size of the state's contingency fund, so no program cuts are anticipated.
The repeal bill would also kill higher taxes on diesel fuel adopted in the services tax legislation, while the increased documentary stamp tax on real estate transactions would be retained to support a special trust fund for building roads, bridges, schools, prisons and other facilities.
The tax was enacted last spring to provide the cash, estimated at $1 billion a year, needed to build the various public facilities required to support the rapid growth in the state's population.
When Martinez changed his mind, and sought outright repeal, Mills and Vogt held out for revisions to save the services tax, but their efforts failed when the Legislature deadlocked during a series of special sessions.
Last Friday, they began meeting privately with Martinez, discussing repeal and an increase in the general sales tax from 5 cents to 6 cents on the dollar.
But it became clear Thursday during negotiations by House members, senators and aides to the governor that a majority in both chambers would reject the higher sales tax.
