Recently filed state legislation would create a Florida Farm Tax Exempt Agricultural Materials (TEAM) card to be used for sales-tax-exempt purchases of agricultural materials. The filing was announced by Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson, state Sen. Jay Collins, state Rep. Danny Alvarez and agriculture stakeholders.
“The Florida Farm TEAM Card will help to alleviate burdens felt by farmers and agricultural retailers in our state,” said Simpson.
The card would be aimed at modernizing and reducing the burden of the current practice of submitting a paper form for every tax-exempt purchase of agricultural materials. It would do that by providing a free physical card alternative to Florida farmers.
According to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS), “The current process that Florida farmers are forced to participate in to receive the tax relief they are currently afforded has become so onerous that they are crossing state lines to participate in neighboring state programs that aren’t as burdensome. The Florida Farm TEAM card will help to make Florida a more farmer-friendly state to purchase needed supplies and goods.”
“The TEAM Card may be small and fit in a wallet, but its economic impact will be huge by helping ensure that the purchase of farm supplies stays in Florida,” said Alvarez.
“I am proud to introduce this piece of legislation that will take some burden off of Florida’s farmers by modernizing the current and outdated process for agricultural producers to claim existing sales-tax exemptions,” Collins said.
“We greatly appreciate the leadership of Commissioner Simpson, Senator Collins and Representative Alvarez to modernize and streamline our process for receiving sales tax relief,” said Florida Farm Bureau Federation President Jeb Smith. “With rising input costs, growing and producing the food for our nation becomes more and more challenging.”
The announcement of the legislation’s filing was made at the Florida State Capitol in Tallahassee in conjunction with Florida Farm Bureau Day.
Source: FDACS
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