William Patrick
Watchdog.org
Big businesses love tax cuts and environmentalists love solar power. A solar tax cut would seem a perfect fit.
And so it is.
The nexus between business and environmental groups proved a powerful force ahead of Tuesday’s statewide primary elections.
By a margin of 3 to 1, the solar tax cut known as Amendment 4 is on its way to being enshrined in the state constitution.
According to the Florida Division of Elections, the amendment passed with 73 percent approval, or 1,970,462 votes. Only 60 percent approval was needed.
The amendment exempts solar and renewable energy equipment from business and industrial property taxes for the next 20 years. Homeowners already receive the property tax exemption. A tangible personal property tax cut also applies.
“This is a huge step to help the Sunshine State out of the darkness to become a leader in the solar industry,” reads a victory statement from the advocacy group, Yeson4.org.
Yes on 4, also known as Floridians 4 Lower Energy Costs, was the leading support campaign for the amendment. The group is chaired by Greg Holden, chairman of the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce.
The campaign lists over 200 endorsements for the tax cut measure, including 47 from solar industry businesses and associations. Remaining endorsements consist of chambers of commerce, business associations, environmental activist groups, political organizations, local governments, elected officials and the news media.
The tax cuts are in addition to an array of solar rebates and incentives, not the least of which is a 30 percent federal tax credit for residential and commercial solar investments.
Opposition to the amendment was led by a political action committee called Stop Playing Favorites. The group says it opposes “carve outs, subsidies and tax exemptions statewide that favor any one industry.”
“Voters are tired of big government cronyism where legislators and lobbyists play favorites by manipulating the tax code for their friends,” said Jason Hoyt, founder and chairman of Stop Playing Favorites.
According to the Division of Elections, the group only raised $4,828 as of Thursday, Aug. 25.
The pro-amendment PAC Floridians 4 Lower Energy Costs raised $91,850 for its Amendment 4 awareness effort. Most of its funding, $71,500, came from the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy Action Fund, the political arm of a deep-pocketed activist group of the same name. SACE is rumored to have funding ties to liberal San Francisco billionaire Tom Steyer.
Social justice activist Rev. Al Sharpton also opposed Amendment 4.
“The beneficiaries of this are big businesses who, if they paid their tax on this, it would go toward helping schools from local counties and cities that claim they don't have the budget,” Sharpton said at a South Florida rally earlier this month, according to the New Miami Times.
State lawmakers will still need to pass a bill in the 2017 legislative session to implement the measure. No resistance is expected, since it was the legislature that unanimously placed the tax cut amendment on the ballot.
Voters will see another solar energy proposal on the November ballot.
Called Amendment 1, the citizen-initiated measure would give residents the right to own or lease solar energy equipment for personal use while ensuring that residents who do not produce solar energy are protected from subsidizing it.
If that amendment fails, a door to higher utility bills remains open as non-solar producing ratepayers would likely cover the costs of maintaining the electric grid for those who use it less but still rely on it.
Opponents say voter approval would make solar energy more expensive, and blast utility companies for backing the proposal.
“The only people their proposed amendment would protect are utility shareholders. Period. This amendment seeks to limit non-utility solar options in Florida by enshrining the status quo and providing the utilities with leverage to continue to control their customers,” said Stephen A. Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, in a statement.
Minority rights groups are also funding Amendment 1 awareness.
The National Congress of Black Women, the NAACP and the 60 Plus Association are among the social advocacy groups opposing higher utility bills for economically vulnerable populations.