A Republican bill that imposes an across-the-board 5 percent tax on the salaries or participants in the Florida Retirement System (FRS), including Florida’s teachers, police and public workers, cleared another milestone when it passed a House Committee on Thursday.
In a party-line vote with Republicans in favor and Democrats against, the measure cleared the House Government Operations Subcommittee.
The bill which is expected to be heard next by the Republican-controlled House Appropriations Committee, lengthens time police, firefighters, and other “special risk” employees must work before they can retire from 25 to 30 years, or from age 55 to 60, which ever is sooner. For everyone else, the retirement age would rise from age 62 to 65, or from 30 to 33 years of service.
Democrats who opposed the measure warned of severe long-term negative consequences and said House Bill 1405 could damage Florida’s economy.
Rep. Jeff Clemens (D-Lake Worth), the Democratic Ranking Member on the House Government Operations Subcommittee described the legislation as “patently unfair” to all public servants.
“We’ve been dealing with pay freezes for public employees for years and now we’re putting a 5-percent salary tax on the backs of state employees,” said Rep. Clemens. “Absolutely, this is a 5-percent pay cut. I don’t know what else you would call it but a tax.”
Clemens also said HB 1405 is a “solution in search of a problem,” noting that the FRS is nearly fully funded and is considered one of the best-operating public pension systems in the nation.
Rep. Alan Williams (D-Tallahassee) another member of the subcommittee who opposed the bill, said the legislation will create a deficit in the Florida economy.
“There are 720 million reasons why we shouldn’t support this bill,” Williams said. “That’s the amount of money that will be coming out of the economy, with the 5 percent tax on the incomes of just state employees and on teachers.”
The bill was also opposed by Reps. Irv Slosberg (D-Boca Raton), Dwayne Taylor (D-Daytona Beach) and Barbara Watson (D-Miami).
There are more than 650,000 Florida Retirement System members statewide and 300,000 government retirees who participate in the FRS.
