Florida lawmakers carve out $31.6 million tax break for business meals
Dubbed the âthree martini lunchâ tax deduction by critics when it was passed by Congress last year, it refers to the practice of taking long leisurely business lunches and deducting them on tax returns as a business expense.
Â
Updated 1 hour ago
TALLAHASSEE â Florida legislators may be using the budget to cut government and services, but they are also advancing proposals to deliver millions in corporate tax breaks to a select number of businesses â including a $31.6 million break to allow qualifying businesses to write off 100 percent of the cost of all business meals from their state income taxes.
Legislature s cheers! to tax break for 3-martini lunches draws jeers from critics Mary Ellen Klas, The Miami Herald
Apr. 15 TALLAHASSEE Florida legislators may be using the budget to cut government and services, but they are also advancing proposals to deliver millions in corporate tax breaks to a select number of businesses including a $31.6 million break to allow qualifying businesses to write off 100% of the cost of all business meals from their state income taxes.
Dubbed the three martini lunch tax deduction by critics when it was passed by Congress last year, it refers to the practice of taking long leisurely business lunches and deducting them on tax returns as a business expense. The idea was seen as a way to revive the ailing restaurant industry, battered by the pandemic, but critics say allowing companies to write off Florida taxes for the same meal that gets a federal tax break is a kind of double dipping the state can t afford.