Government and Politics
February 10, 2023
From: Florida Governor Ron DeSantisTallahassee, FL -- On Feb 8th, CFO Jimmy Patronis issued a statement following the IRS announcement of a proposed new tip reporting program between the IRS and employers in service industries. The IRS proposed the new revenue procedure this week to target tips earned by service industry employees.
CFO Jimmy Patronis said, “Biden's ridiculous new tip tax is an embarrassment and puts a bull's eye on the backs of hard working service industry professionals who base their lives on the tips they receive for their great work. The Biden Administration said they were only going after billionaires with these 87,000 new IRS agents, but last time I checked, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk don't get tips. No, this new proposal will go after the waiters, waitresses, hostesses and service professionals at your local restaurant or cafe who keep our small businesses running and work their hardest every day. I have spent my entire life in the restaurant industry, and these men and women work long hours to put food on the table for their customers and their families, but these ruthless bureaucrats in Washington are trying to extort money from them. It's just more proof that DC is full of a bunch of teenagers who just can't put down their credit cards and the only way to pay for government junk items is to extort money from poor and middle-class Americans. Florida is fighting IRS overreach and it is my top priority to protect our small businesses and service industries to keep our economy open and to keep Florida free.”
CFO Patronis is working with lawmakers ahead of the 2023 Florida Legislative Session to fight the IRS, which is expected to grow by 87,000 employees through an allocation of $80 billion of taxpayer dollars from the Inflation Reduction Act that President Biden signed into law last August. Senate Bill 372 and House Bill 507 were recently introduced in partnership with the CFO's Four Pillars of IRS Protection to establish protections in Florida law and empower families and small businesses to fight back from being targeted by the IRS.