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Greetings Film Florida Members, Stakeholders, and Friends ~
Reminder, this is a NEW CALL TO ACTION FOR THE FLORIDA HOUSE! The previous call to action was for the Florida Senate President, THIS IS A NEW CALL TO ACTION. We have not received nearly enough letters thus far, please don't assume "someone else" will submit letters. As you know, the Florida House of Representatives filed a bill which would, among other things, close the Florida Office of Film and Entertainment (the State Film Commission), eliminate the Entertainment Industry Sales Tax Exemption program, which would effectively represent a tax increase on our industry, and eliminate the Florida Film and Entertainment Advisory Council (FFEAC).
As we expected, very shortly, the repeal of the Entertainment Industry Sales Tax Exemption Program will be pulled out of the original bill and made into its own stand-alone bill. We expect that stand alone bill to pass its final House committee and head to the House Floor for a vote of the entire Florida House of Representatives. This is where there is an opportunity, and we need your help!
We have targeted select members of the Florida House that already support our efforts and we believe could vote against the soon to be created bill that would eliminate the Entertainment Industry Sales Tax Exemption Program.
By 12pm ET on Wednesday April 12, we need each of you to send us a short letter that we will hand deliver to the select Reps, demonstrating your support for preserving the sales tax exemption program. Reply to this e-mail ([email protected]) and send your letter to us as a Word or PDF attachment (on company letterhead if available). Please be sure to address your letter as noted below and include your name, your company's name (if applicable), and your profession. Please keep the letter to a single page. It is paramount that you articulate the negative impact you/your company and our industry would face if your taxes were raised as a result of the sales tax exemption going away.
Since many of you have already sent letters, please use those as your starting point. Even if you have already sent a letter for the previous call to action, these letters are going to completely different people so we need your help again.
Below are the geographic regions, Representatives names for each region and a sample letter for you to follow. If you live in one of the locations listed, please create letters addressed to the Representatives listed and email those letters to us at [email protected]. If there are multiple Reps listed for your region, please address multiple letters and send each of those letters to us to hand deliver. Your letter can be the same, you would just address each one separately. Once we collect the letters we will hand deliver them to each Rep.
After you submit your letter, please forward this email to 5 people that work directly OR indirectly in the industry and ask them to submit a letter as well. There’s also a link at the bottom of the email blast if you’d like to post this on social media.
Regards,
Gail Morgan
President, Film Florida
Northwest Florida (anyone Tallahassee and westward):
Representative Salzman
Representative Rudman
Representative Maney
Northeast Florida (anyone within 1 hour of Jacksonville):
Representative Black
Central Florida (Orange, Osceola, Brevard, Seminole, Lake Counties):
Representative Plasencia
Representative Hawkins
Representative Smith
Representative Killebrew
Bay Area (Pasco, Hillsborough, Pinellas, Manatee, Sarasota Counties):
Representative Chaney
Representative Berfield
Palm Beach County:
Representative Caruso
Representative Gossett-Seidman
Broward County:
Representative LaMarca
South Florida (Miami-Dade & Monroe Counties):
Representative Lopez
Representative Basabe
Representative Mooney
It's extremely important that each letter be YOUR STORY in YOUR WORDS. Please do not just copy and paste our sample letter. Make sure you insert info in the highlighted sections and remove the highlights. When finished, please send your letter to [email protected], we will collect all letters and hand deliver them.
Dear Representative (INSERT LAST NAME HERE),
My name is Joseph Smith and I work for XYZ Company in Winter Haven, FL. I live in (INSERT GEOGRAPHIC REGION HERE- Northwest Florida, Bay Area, Broward County, etc.) Thank you for supporting Florida’s film, television and digital media production industry. I respectfully ask that you vote against raising taxes by eliminating the Entertainment Industry Sales Tax Exemption Program.
We are a small company. In my 6 years working in this industry, using the sales tax exemption program has allowed us to purchase equipment that we otherwise would not have been able to afford. If we lost the Entertainment Industry Sales Tax Exemption Program it would be a tax increase on my business, something that would be difficult for us to absorb. (BE SURE YOU INCLUDE YOUR OWN PERSONAL STORY)
Thank you for your support and your efforts. Please do not raise my taxes as it would hurt me, my company and my family.
Regards,
YOUR NAME & COMPANY
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