Tallahassee, Florida – October 12, 2011 -

In light of the Florida’s Revenue Estimating Conference’s revised estimate of a $1.3 billion shortfall in next year’s state budget, State Representative Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda (D-Tallahassee) has re-filed HB 321 - the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement (SSUTA) in the Florida Legislature for the upcoming 2012 session. This will be the fourth year that Representative Rehwinkel Vasilinda has filed the SSUTA bill. The Representative believes that the passage of her bill would help to resolve projected shortfalls in our state’s budget.

Representative Rehwinkel Vasilinda has also filed House Memorial 323, a resolution that requests the U.S. Congress adopt the Main Street Fairness Act on the national level. Collecting sales tax from Internet purchases has bipartisan support, and Florida State Senator Evelyn Lynn (R-Ormond Beach) has filed a companion bill as well as a Senate Memorial Resolution to Congress on the SSUTA.

Last month, Representative Rehwinkel Vasilinda traveled to Washington, D.C. to promote a federal version of “The Sales Tax Fairness and Simplification Act,” also known as “The Main Street Fairness Act.” Representative Rehwinkel Vasilinda met with the staff of the following members of Congress: Senator Marco Rubio (R), Senator Bill Nelson (D), Senator Dick Durbin (D), Representative Nancy Pelosi (D), Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D), and Representative Steve Southerland (R).

Upon her return from our nation’s capital, Representative Rehwinkel Vasilinda sent letters to the members of the Congressional Super Committee urging their adoption of the Main Street Fairness Act. The Representative believes that the SSUTA could in effect be a “Stimulus 3,” serving as a means of equitably addressing our federal government’s deficit and assisting struggling local small businesses.