Corporations could get a $3.5 billion tax break in Florida unless state lawmakers step in to stop it

A recap of the second week of the Florida Legislature's 2026 session, plus a preview of week three.

Photo credit: The White House

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Editor’s note: The 2026 session of the Florida Legislature is underway, so we have temporarily turned our weekly “Florida in Five” feature into a roundup of news, notes and bill movements from the session.

The largest corporations in the world could pocket billions of dollars in bonus tax breaks from Florida unless state lawmakers untangle the state’s tax code from the massive federal corporate tax cuts that President Donald Trump and the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress enacted last year.

If state leaders in Tallahassee choose to go along with Washington’s latest corporate tax cuts, it would rip a roughly $3.5 billion hole in the new state budget that Florida’s Republican-controlled Legislature must pass by July 1, according to estimates from state economists.

That’s more money than Florida is spending this year to repave roads, repair bridges, build new bike trails, and fund public transit — combined.

The budget hit would quickly grow even bigger: Corporations would ultimately save more than $7 billion in Florida taxes over the next five years, the estimates show.

These savings would go exclusively to the very biggest largest corporations. That’s because Florida’s tax on corporate profits is already so riddled with exemptions and exclusions — and long-abused loopholes that politicians in Tallahassee have repeatedly refused to close — that 99 percent of all companies doing business in Florida don’t pay any state corporate income tax at all.

To put it another way: Going along with the federal corporate tax cuts — and allowing corporations to essentially double-dip at the state level — wouldn’t save a penny for small or medium-sized businesses.

But it would rob the state of revenue that it could invest in everything from road construction to childcare.

The looming budget bomb is the result of Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” an enormous package of federal tax cuts that is forecast to deepen the national debt by $3.4 trillion over the next 10 years.

The sweeping package includes a number of new and expanded tax breaks under the federal corporate income tax. And those federal breaks have a secondary impact on states like Florida that charge their own corporate income taxes — because state corporate tax codes are connected to the federal corporate tax code.

Every year, Florida lawmakers update the state’s corporate tax laws to conform with any changes made over the past year at the federal level. It’s known around the Capitol as the “piggyback” bill, and it’s usually a boring and benign piece of legislation (although not always).

But if Florida were to simply piggyback again this year, the state would end up picking up all of the corporate tax changes in the OBBBA — and corporations would get a second round of tax savings at the state level.

Most of these new corporate tax breaks are matters of timing — like provisions that allow companies to write off certain capital investments all at once, rather than spreading the deductions out over a longer period of time. The net effect is that companies get giant tax savings up front but then have to pay a little more in taxes in future years.

That means the immediate $3.5 billion hit to Florida’s budget should, at least in theory, turn around over time.

But as everyone who has lived through post-Covid inflation understands all too well now, a dollar today is worth more than a dollar tomorrow. And it’s worth a lot more more than a dollar that won’t be paid until five, 10 or even 20 years from now.

So the changes still amount to a permanent tax break for corporations. In fact, state economists estimate that adopting all of the provisions in the OBBBA tax cuts would effectively reduce Florida’s corporate tax collections by nearly $400 million a year going forward.

State economists estimate that adopting all the federal corporate tax cuts in Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” would open a $3.5 billion hole in the 2026-27 budget and amount to a recurring state tax cut for corporations of nearly $400 million a year.

States don’t have to go along with these tax breaks, though. All they have to do is “decouple” their tax codes from one or more of the changes made by One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

It’s not yet clear what Florida’s leadership intends to do.

But a growing number of states are opting out: At least 10 — including California, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island, plus the District of Columbia — have already decoupled, or are in the midst of decoupling, from one or more of Trump’s latest corporate tax breaks.

Billtrack

In honor of the best show on TV, here’s a look at some of the bills on the move from the past week of session:

• House Bill 103: Forces cities and counties to eliminate all local business taxes. Passed the House Intergovernmental Affairs Subcommittee by a 10-6 vote. (vote sheet)

• House Bill 105: Empowers businesses to sue local governments to stop them from enforcing regulations. Passed the House Civil Justice & Claims Subcommittee by a 16-0 vote. (vote sheet)

• Senate Bill 216: Imposes additional requirements on laid-off workers seeking unemployment benefits. Passed the Senate Transportation, Tourism and Economic Development Appropriations Committee by a 9-5 vote. (vote sheet)

• Senate Bill 408: Allows people who have experienced side effects from vaccines to sue vaccine manufacturers who have advertised their products in Florida. Passed the Senate Regulated Industries Committee by a 5-3 vote. (vote sheet)

• House Bill 429: Gives law enforcement more ways to designate a criminal suspect as a member of a gang, including by citing the use of “gang-related language” on social media. Passed the House Judiciary Committee by a 21-0 vote. (vote sheet)

• House Bill 433: Makes it easier for the sugar industry to sue critics for defamation. Passed the House Commerce Committee by an 18-0 vote. (vote sheet)

• House Bill 437: Requires government agencies to respond more promptly to public records requests. Passed the Government Operations Subcommittee by an 18-0 vote. (vote sheet)

• Senate Bill 548: Helps developers trying to stop a local government from raising impact fees by requiring that the local government pay the developer’s attorney fees if the developer wins a case in court. Passed the Senate Community Affairs Committee by an 8-0 vote. (vote sheet)

• Senate Bill 686: Makes it easier for develop residential subdivisions on farmland next to developed areas. Passed the Senate Community Affairs Committee by an 8-0 vote. (vote sheet)

• House Bill 743: Criminalizes anyone who “aids and abets” a doctor providing gender-affirming care to someone under the age of 18 and empowers to the attorney general to investigate and prosecute healthcare providers. Passed the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee by a 12-5 vote. (vote sheet)

• House Bill 981: Requires the Department of Environmental Protection to develop a plan to breach the Rodman Dam and restore the natural flow of the Ocklawaha River. Passed the House Natural Resources & Disasters Subcommittee by a 16-0 vote. (vote sheet)

• Senate Bill 1066: Requires the Department of Environmental Protection to develop a plan to breach the Rodman Dam and restore the natural flow of the Ocklawaha River. Passed the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee by an 8-0 vote (vote sheet)

• House Bill 1071: Enables the State Board of Education to make public schools show students an anti-abortion cartoon as part of the health education curriculum beginning in the sixth grade. Also requires schools to allow any law enforcement officer entry onto an school campus. Passed the House Student Academic Success Subcommittee by a 12-5 vote (vote sheet)

• Senate Bill 1076: Expands a tax break for large corporations based on the amount they spend on research and development. Passed the Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee by a 10-0 vote. (vote sheet)

• Senate Bill 1010: Criminalizes anyone who “aids and abets” a doctor providing gender-affirming care to someone under the age of 18; empowers to the attorney general to investigate and prosecute healthcare providers; and enables parents to sue public school teachers for violating the state’s “Parents’ Bill of Rights” law. Passed the Senate Children, Families and Elder Affairs Committee by a 5-1 vote (vote sheet)

• House Bill 1119: Forbids school boards from considering the literary or artistic merits of books that activists want banned from libraries. Passed the House Education Administration Subcommittee by a 13-5 vote (vote sheet)

• House Bill 4027: Requires Hillsborough County to hold a referendum in November about whether to make the superintendent of county schools into an elected position, rather than one appointed by the School Board. Passed the House Education Administration Subcommittee by a 17-1 vote. (vote sheet)

The week ahead

Monday

• The Senate Health Policy Committee will Senate Bill 1756, which would parents to opt their children out of health screenings and immunizations required for enrollment in public schools on the basis of “conscience.” The bill would also allow pharmacies to sell Ivermectin without a prescription. The meeting begins at 3:30 pm. (Contact committee members)

• The Senate Military and Veterans Affairs, Space and Domestic Security Committee will hear Senate Bill 1512, which would property and sales tax breaks for aerospace and defense companies. The meeting begins at 3:30 pm. (Contact committee members)

Tuesday

• The Senate Rules Committee will hear Senate Bill 290, which would make it easier for sugar companies to sue environmental groups, news organizations and food-safety activists for defamation. The meeting begins at 9 am. (Contact committee members)

• The Senate Rules Committee will also hear House Bill 167, which would make it harder to sue the Mosaic Co. and other phosphate-mining companies for claims related to radiation exposure on redeveloped former mines.

• The House Education and Employment Committee will hear House Bill 1119, which would forbid school districts from considering the literary or artistic merits of books that activists want banned from libraries. The meeting begins at 9:30 am. (Contact committee members)

• The House Health and Human Services Committee will hear House Bill 173, which would forbid teenagers from accessing birth control or treatment for sexually transmitted infections without permission from a parent. The meeting begins at 12:30 pm. (Contact committee members)

• The House Ways & Means Committee will hear House Bill 377, which would exempt Philip Morris’ IQOS nicotine device and other heated tobacco products from state tobacco taxes. The meeting begins at 3 pm. (Contact committee members)

• The Senate Community Affairs Committee will hear Senate Bill 1444, which would strip cities and counties of any authority to regulate church services and other religious gatherings and would forbid them from taking any action that “substantially burdens” religious expression. The bill would also limit the ability of local governments to regulate country clubs, yacht clubs and other private clubs. The meeting begins at 3:30 pm. (Contact committee members)

• The Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee will hear Senate Bill 1628, which would block local communities from enacting a variety of policies intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and combat climate change. The meeting begins at 3:30 pm. (Contact committee members)

Wednesday

• The Senate Banking and Insurance Committee will hear Senate Bill 1038 and Senate Bill 1040, which together would create a state fund with which to invest taxpayer money in cryptocurrency. The meeting begins at 10:30 am. (Contact committee members)

• The Senate Civil and Criminal Justice Appropriations Committee will hear Senate Bill 164, which would grant fertilized eggs some of the same legal rights as living children and allow anyone who impregnates someone else to sue over the loss or termination of the pregnancy from the moment of conception. The meeting begins at 3:45 pm. (Contact committee members)

Note: The House notices committee meetings two days ahead of time, while the Senate notices them three days in advance. Click here to find the complete daily calendars in the Florida House of Representatives, and click here for the daily calendars for the Florida Senate.

Reading list

• See a ghost ‘fairyland’ forest reemerge in Florida: Sixty years ago, these freshwater springs and forests were drowned by a 9,500-acre reservoir. Could the ecosystem finally be restored? (National Geographic)

• DeSantis’ DOGE team misses deadline for report to lawmakers (Tampa Bay Times) ($)

• Florida State Guard director practiced flying on state planes, members say (Tampa Bay Times) ($)

• Hillsborough College asks state for $50M ahead of Rays stadium revamp (Axios Tampa Bay)

• Florida’s unemployment benefits could be harder to get under new bill (USA Today Network – Florida)

• House budget panel eyes SNAP changes and their effect on state budget (Florida Phoenix)

• Black lawmakers oppose Uthmeier’s decision not to enforce state anti-discrimination laws (Orlando Sentinel) ($)

• Why Medication Abortion Is the Top Target for Anti-Abortion Groups in 2026 (KFF Health News)

• Florida escalates its battle on sociology with new curriculum, textbook. Professors push back (WLRN)

• Orange commissioner wants to block potential ICE facility in Orlando (Orlando Sentinel) ($)

• To Their Shock, Cubans in Florida Are Being Deported in Record Numbers (New York Times) ($)