Tallahassee, Florida - Feb. 3, 2012 -

Bills to tax Internet companies doing business in Florida resumed their treks on Thursday as separate measures began to move in the Senate. The Senate Finance and Tax Committee approved the introduction of a proposed committee bill, HB 7206, which would set up a mechanism to begin collecting sales tax from out-of-state, online vendors that do not currently pay state sales tax. Sales tax collections would be returned to taxpayers by way of sales tax holidays or other routes. "I have shopping centers that are half empty," said Sen. Gwen Margolis, D-Miami. We're not talking about mom and pops, we're talking about all kinds of large box stores." The Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee approved a similar bill, SB 1514, on a 5-1 vote later Thursday. That measure, sponsored by Sen. Nancy Detert, does not earmark tax collections, which would instead revert to the state's general revenue fund. That provision may be too heavy a load, said Sen. Anitere Flores, R-Miami. who was the sole vote against adopting the bill as a committee substitute. "The leadership in both the Senate and House has said that if this bill passes, they want to have a bill that would equal the reduced revenue, because this bill is going to increase revenue," Flores said. "So if its increasing revenue, in my opinion its still a tax, and I just don't think that's the way we need to be going this year." States around the country are grappling with how to glean tax revenue from Internet companies, which have sought protection under the U.S. Constitution's commerce clause. Several lawsuits are pending.