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Commission OKs Box Tax

Lakeland Ledger – November 20, 2008

The Florida Citrus Commission gave its unanimous approval Wednesday to a proposed measure that would equalize the “box tax” paid on both domestic and imported orange juice products. Florida growers pay the tax on each box of fruit they produce to support marketing and research efforts by the Florida Department of Citrus, but juice companies who import citrus products are largely exempt because it would essentially force them to help subsidize the marketing of competing products. The new measure would equalize the tax while giving the Commission authority to allocate importers’ share for research. It would also change the way the tax is collected, imposing the fee on all juice processed in Florida, rather than just whole fruit or imported juice. Ken Keck, the FDOC’s executive director, said the Commission will forward its proposal to Florida Citrus Mutual, the state’s largest growers organization, hoping to gain its support before sending the measure to state legislators for consideration.

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