President’s Corner – May 2025 – Who Likes Paying Sales Tax?

I know, I know. I write about hurricane preparedness every May. This is true. And, because of that, many of you will not read this article because you have been bombarded with preparation tips since the moment you moved to Florida or were old enough to know what a hurricane was.

So, what I really want to write about this year is not really the disaster part of the hurricane season, but, the tax break holidays. Unfortunately, as I am writing this article, the exact dates for the tax holiday have not officially been signed into law and announced. But we do know that they are being proposed for the first part of June (June 2nd through June 15th) and then there will also be another tax holiday at the height of the hurricane season.

For those of you who do NOT like paying discretionary sales tax, this the holiday for you. Everyone needs to buy something for hurricane season, right? So, why not save some money to buy the things you were going to buy anyway. Here is the list of items that were included in last year’s holidays, so, let’s assume it will be the same:

Heck, even if it isn’t specifically for disaster relief, some of these can be purchased just because you need them anyway such as dog/cat food, pet beds, batteries, reusable ice, and coolers. You can get your new beach day cooler during this tax holiday!

As I said, they haven’t made the official announcement yet, but, make sure you visit the Florida Department of Revenue page here: https://floridarevenue.com/DisasterPrep/Pages/default.aspx or the Florida Division of Emergency Management page (https://www.floridadisaster.org/) to see this year’s dates and comprehensive list of items that are tax exempt.

The https://www.floridadisaster.org/ page is also an informative site with great planning tools for you and your family to prepare for the upcoming hurricane season. Don’t wait as it is just around the corner, June 1st, and you don’t want to start the season without a plan. https://www.floridadisaster.org/planprepare/

So, until next time, prepare, prepare, prepare and remember, “The avoidance of taxes is the only intellectual pursuit that carries any reward.” – John Maynard Keynes

Eva M. Rey, President
Central Viera Community Association, Inc.