Miami tourism leader says the 'math just isn't there' about House tax proposal effects

Florida's 60-day legislative session may have technically come to a close, but lawmakers still have a major topic to hash out: the budget.

Aside from the House's proposal being $4.4 billion less than the Senate's, taxes have also been at the center of conversation.

READ MORE: Florida House, Senate leaders reach budget 'framework' deal. Includes $2.8 billion in tax cuts

The House approved a bill (HB 7033) that would alter local tourist development taxes, also known as hotel bed taxes. The money helps keep the Sunshine State's beaches clean, fund arts groups and maintain conference centers.

It's paid by tourists, and almost every county in the state has the tax. Local governments have restrictions on what the money can be spent on, as it tends to go to marketing to generate more visitors.

But the House's proposal could change this.

If signed into law, it would redirect tourist taxes to the general fund of county governments, which must use those dollars to lower property taxes.

The bill's sponsor, Republican Rep. Wyman Duggan from Duval County, said last week that this is a way to provide some affordability immediately, beginning when the fiscal year starts July 1.

"This is something that we can do. It's designed to be an innovative approach to allow the local governments to provide property tax relief that flows through to our citizens who own property and pay taxes on it," Duggan said.

READ MORE: Florida legislators revamp condo law. Will it stabilize South Florida's condo market?

All of this is part of a larger effort by Republican lawmakers to go after property taxes to address housing affordability. Gov. Ron DeSantis has been a big advocate of slashing property taxes altogether. However, this would take a constitutional amendment requiring a ballot initiative getting 60% support by Florida voters.

DeSantis and House Republicans have been openly feuding this session, specifically about the budget. For example, House Speaker Daniel Perez seemingly took a jab at the governor and pointed out a need to have a detailed plan for cutting property taxes.

"Saying property taxes are bad isn't the basis for developing a plan," Perez stated.

The House speaker announced a committee to come up with options on how it should reduce or get rid of property taxes. This is so that a proposal could wind up on the 2026 ballot for voters to decide on.

In the meantime, the House has moved forward with its plan to alter hotel bed taxes.

On "The Florida Roundup," Rolando Aedo, chief operating officer of the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau, warned that the bill could have wider implications for a state that relies heavily on tourism.

Aedo told host Tom Hudson that approximately $60 million in tourist taxes are collected in Miami-Dade County. The agency then uses half of that money for tourism marketing.

Aedo explained how the county collects taxes from hotels and allocates the money. Aside from tourism marketing, it also primarily goes to pay for arts, culture and "quality of life benefits" residents can enjoy.

"We're proud to say that tourists contribute to Miami-Dade County residents' quality of life," Aedo said.

Aedo added that for every $1 spent, the visitors bureau is generating $63 in economic impact for the county. Then, on an annual basis, it attracts approximately 27 million visitors, which generate upwards of $30 billion in economic impact.

Aedo expressed concern about the long-term effects on the county of not investing as much money into tourism marketing.

"Tourism is the bedrock of our economy and so many other industries," Aedo said. "So while that diminution of tourism marketing funds may not be felt immediately, there have been other places that have done what is being proposed and have seen a diminution of tourists because of a lack of tourism marketing funds."

He explained that Miami is a "global brand," and without marketing, people could easily choose to spend their time and money elsewhere.

"There are many great warm-weather, great beach destinations, so we are competing on a daily basis," Aedo explained. "So that's why the reinvestment of taxes that tourists are paying continues to make the tourism market grow and be competitive [and] is critically important."

Aedo added that by undermining the marketing, he believes this is going backward in generating revenue for local coffers and property taxes. He said that the area has a savings of approximately $2,200 per household directly attributed to tourism.

"So we start cutting back on that tourism marketing, and by extension, tourism, we're actually cutting into the savings that we're currently enjoying," Aedo told Hudson.

READ MORE: Floridians debate lowering sales taxes vs. property taxes amid economic concerns

Aedo said this is because the tourism tax is like the "seed corn" for all the other taxes and argued that the House's proposal would decrease the amount of savings for those in Miami-Dade.

"The numbers that we've looked at for Miami Dade County households, that would be approximately a $60 savings. And again, on the other side of the ledger, you have $2,200 in savings based on the impact that tourists are generating for our community," Aedo said. "So we would say that the math just isn't there."

He added that 200,000 jobs are supported by tourism in the county. This is 10% of the gross domestic product, Aedo said.

"Anything that we do that potentially, potentially undermines tourism, has multiple implications, not just — in way, way beyond the tax," Aedo said.

WUSF's Douglas Soule reported that the Legislature won't be completing its budget for the new fiscal year until later in May at the earliest.

Lawmakers are taking a break this week after the scheduled session ended Friday.

"We're putting together a framework for a budget, and I'm optimistic that we'll have more news to share very soon," Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, said last week.

In general, the chambers have big differences to figure out from the amount of money to even tax cut proposals before a budget can be sent to the governor to sign off on.

And with the heat lately between the House and the governor, it's still unknown how DeSantis will feel when he gets the budget sent to him.

"How he [DeSantis] will feel about the ultimate product of the negotiations between the House and the Senate is yet to be known, because we don't know what the product of those negotiations will be yet," Soule told Hudson on "The Florida Roundup."

The budget needs to be passed and signed off by DeSantis by July 1, which is the start of the fiscal year.

This story was compiled from interviews conducted by Tom Hudson for "The Florida Roundup."
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