Two Florida elected officials Thursday filed taxation bills they say will help protect Floridians from the fallout of the federal government’s expansion of the Internal Revenue Service.
Florida Sen. Blaise Ingoglia (R-Spring Hill) and Rep. Toby Overdorf (R-Palm City) filed the two bills, which include requiring state-chartered financial institution to report IRS inquiries into Floridians’ accounts, in hopes of spotting any discrimination or targeting, and creating a civil liability trust fund to help Florida’s small businesses defend, or even sue the IRS in the event suspected politically motivated audits or federal overreach.
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In 2022, President Joe Biden signed the “Inflation Reduction Act,” a government spending bill that included a provision add 87,000 new IRS agents.
Fearing that small businesses would be a target of the IRS, Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis proposed measures to slow the IRS.
Ingoglia and Overdorf will carry SB 372/HB 507 Federal Taxation and SB 374/HB 509 Internal Revenue Service Civil Liability Trust Fund through the 2023 legislative process.
“Today, the Florida Legislature took its first step in fighting back against the IRS,” said Patronis said in a media release.
“Sen. Blaise Ingoglia and Rep. Toby Overdorf have filed one of the most important pieces of legislation aimed at protecting Floridians and small businesses from the IRS’s expansion that includes adding 87,000 new IRS agents,” he said.
“Capital is flowing to Florida at historic levels, and there’s no doubt the Biden administration will target our middle class to fund their already bloated programs,” he said. “Now is the time to take a stand against the IRS, and I’ve never been more proud to be a Floridian.”
“The prospect of 87,000 more IRS agents is terrifying. So, while our friends in Congress try to derail funding for this ludicrous band of harassers, we, at the state level, are arming our small businesses with the tools they need to fight back if targeted due to political affiliation or ideological differences,” Ingoglia said.
Overdorf said that he was “Grateful to work with two champions of small business to ensure President Biden’s IRS overreach is kept in check, and that Florida entrepreneurs can continue to thrive in the free state of Florida.”
In Citrus County, there were 2,813 businesses, according to the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau.
In the county, there were 30,516 employed people in 2020.
Fred Hiers is a reporter at the Citrus Chronicle. Email him at fred.hiers@chronicleonline.com.
