House Ways and Means committee reports favorably on 2026 tax package, 19-0

Tallahassee — The Florida House Ways and Means Committee voted 19-0 on Feb. 26 to report PCB WMC 26-01, the chamber's 2026 tax package, after Chair Joe Duggan presented a sweeping set of sales- and property-tax changes and members heard public testimony.

The committee's package would create a hunting, fishing and camping sales-tax holiday from Sept. 1 through the end of the year; move the existing permanent back-to-school sales-tax holiday to July 20–Aug. 20; create a one-year exemption for firearm accessories; and expand certain limited exemptions (including impact-resistant windows and doors from a prior bill). It would also impose a 3% assessment-increase limit for mobile home parks that rent at least 75% of lots under long-term leases and clarify that some property-tax levies must be adopted unanimously by local governing bodies.

Why it matters: The bill bundles many short-term and a few permanent changes intended to reduce costs for consumers and specific industries while keeping the Legislature's near-term fiscal exposure limited. Chair Joe Duggan said the package is structured so "I don't think there's anything in here longer than 3 years," and that many cuts are time-limited to limit recurring revenue loss.

Key provisions and fiscal signals
- Sales taxes: hunting/fishing/camping holiday; adjusted back-to-school holiday dates; a one-year exemption for firearm accessories; permanent clarification that the gas-can exemption covers liquid-propane tanks.
- Property taxes: a 3% assessment increase cap for qualifying mobile home parks; portability alignment for Save Our Homes benefits; an exemption allowing certain state-owned property used for Space Florida projects to continue receiving affordable-housing credit treatment if sold, provided housing conditions remain.
- Pari-mutuel and beverage taxes: reduction of a pari-mutuel "car boom" tax from 8% to 5% and a reduction in the slot-machine tax from 35% to 34%. The bill also temporarily lowers some beverage excise rates for one year.
- Tax credits and limits: extension of the child-care tax credit program for three years; a three-year, $5 million-per-year tax credit program for certain businesses assisting income-limited employees with first-time homestead purchases; caps on contributions to the Strong Family Tax Credit program.
- Online platforms: requires online listing platforms used for vacation rentals to collect and remit transient rental taxes and related sales taxes directly, a change the chair said would improve collection consistency.

Public testimony and stakeholder concerns
Nancy Stewart of the Federation of Manufactured Homeowners of Florida said the bill's mobile-home provisions will "have a positive effect on the amount of money that can be collected from mobile homeowners in order to pay the park's ad valorem tax bill every year."

Representing the Florida Chamber of Commerce, French Brown urged caution on the committee's approach to corporate "piggyback" or decoupling from recent federal tax changes, warning that full retroactive decoupling would "create an administrative burden on businesses" by requiring separate Florida books and records and could reduce certain federal benefits for Florida companies.

Dale Calhoun of the Florida Propane Gas Association thanked the committee for including propane under the gas-can exemption, saying it would help Floridians preparing for hurricanes. Jeff Skow of the Florida Association of Counties praised disclosure provisions for homebuyers and urged more clarity on potential ad valorem and local-millage impacts.

Numbers discussed
Committee members and staff cited several fiscal figures during questions: committee staff identified a $6,000,000 cost over three years for the promissory-note excise-tax exemption extended to alarm-system contractors; Duggan said full, retroactive implementation of five federal silos could be roughly $3.1 billion by the committee's estimate (the chair discussed limiting recurring impacts by making many changes time-limited). One committee member summarized the package's total tax cuts at about $251,000,000 over the period discussed.

Debate and member positions
Members offered mostly positive or mixed reviews: Rep. Hart Lohman welcomed a longer back-to-school shopping window for parents; Rep. Bankson thanked the chair for Space Coast incentives; Rep. Eskamani said she supported many parts of the package while opposing some firearm-related tax breaks and defended the committee's decision to decouple from certain federal corporate tax changes as fiscally prudent.

Vote and next steps
The committee recorded a roll-call vote of 19 yays, 0 nays and "show the bill reported favorably." The chair said the package will proceed to conference with the Senate, and the committee adjourned.

Votes at a glance
- PCB WMC 26-01 (2026 tax package): reported favorably, roll call 19-0.

What happens next
The bill was reported favorably by the House Ways and Means Committee and will proceed to conference negotiations with the Senate as the Legislature continues to reconcile House and Senate tax proposals.

(Reporting based on the committee's Feb. 26, 2026 hearing; quotes and votes are drawn from committee proceedings.)