Backup Documents 12/11/2018 Item #11DBy What Taxing Authority?
The BCC Lacks Authority to
Implement the 1-cent Sales Surtax
Florida
Constitution
Florida Constitution Art. VII
§1. Taxation; appropriations; state expenses; state revenue
limitation
“No tax shall be levied except in
pursuance of law.”
“Law” means a
statute
“The word law means a statute
adopted by both Houses of the
Legislature.”
-Advisory Opinion to Governor, 22 So. 2d 398, 400
(Fla. Supreme Court, 1945)
Florida Statute
212.055
Fla. Stat. 212.055 Discretionary sales
surtaxes; legislative intent….—
“It is the legislative intent that any
authorization for imposition of a
discretionary sales surtax shall be published
in the Florida Statutes as a subsection of
this section…. Each enactment shall specify
. . . the procedure which must be followed
to secure voter approval. . .”
Florida Statute
subsection
212.055(2)
Subsection (2)LOCAL GOVERNMENT INFRASTRUCTURE
SURTAX.—
(b)A statement which includes a brief general
description of the projects to be funded by the surtax
and which conforms to the requirements of s. 101.161
shall be placed on the ballot by the governing authority
of any county which enacts an ordinance calling for a
referendum on the levy of the surtax …. The following
question shall be placed on the ballot:
FOR the -cent sales tax
AGAINST the -cent sales tax
Collier County
Ordinance
#2018 -21
The Actual
Ballot
Referendum
COLLIER COUNTY AND MUNICIPAL INFRASTRUCTURE
IMPROVEMENTS ONE-CENT SALES SURTAX
To enhance safety, mobility, and hurricane preparedness in Collier
County and its cities by constructing, repairing, and maintaining
roads, bridges, signals, sidewalks, parks, evacuation shelters,
governmental and emergency services facilities; acquire land and
support construction for workforce housing and career and technical
training, veterans' nursing home and expand mental health
facilities; shall the County levy a one-cent sales surtax beginning
January 1, 2019 and automatically ending December 31, 2025, with
oversight by citizen committee?
___ Yes
___ No
A Narrow and
Ambiguous
“Yes” Vote
Election Result: Narrow “Yes” Vote on Ambiguous Referendum
50.87 % “Yes” to 49.13% “No”
The Legislature required clarity on the sales surtax question
Does “Yes” mean “in favor of the projects to be funded,” or does it mean “in favor of the tax?”
0% of the electorate have voted “FOR” or “AGAINST” sales tax
Florida
Attorney
General
Florida Attorney General: Government Must Follow the Statute’s “Precisely Defined Conditions”
“Subsection (2) of the statute authorizes counties to levy a local government infrastructure surtax under precisely defined conditions.These conditions prescribe the … procedure to be followed for approving the taxes.”
--Florida Attorney General Opinion
2001-45
Florida
Supreme Court
on Agency
Authority to
Tax
FLORIDA SUPREME COURT: BCC MUST FOLLOW STATUTE TO GAIN TAXING AUTHORITY
“It is a fundamental rule of construction that
tax laws are to be construed strongly in favor of the taxpayer and against the government, and that
all ambiguities or doubts are to be resolved in favor of the taxpayer.
This salutary principle is found in the reason that the duty to pay taxes, while necessary to the business of the sovereign, is still a duty of pure statutory creation and
taxes may be collected only within the clear definite boundaries recited by statute.”
--Maas Bros., Inc. v. Dickinson, 195 So. 2d 193, 198 (Fla. 1967)(bulletpoints and emphasis added)
“Clear Definite
Boundaries of
the Statute”
The “Clear Definite Boundaries Recited By
Statute:”
FOR the one-cent sales tax
AGAINST the once-cent sales tax
Conclusion
Conclusion: The BCC has no
authority to enact the surtax.
The “FOR/AGAINST the 1-cent sales tax”
question has not been posed to the electorate
Did not follow statute
Did not follow BCC ordinance
Suggested
Next Steps
Request advisory opinion from the Florida Attorney General
Hold off on enacting surtax
Hold off on any commitments that depend upon sales tax revenue
Implement funding “Plan B”
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