Things To Do In SW Florida

TALLAHASSEE — With the U.S. Supreme Court poised to hear arguments next month, Florida is disputing that a 2021 state law placing restrictions on large social media platforms such as Facebook or X violates First Amendment rights.

In a brief filed last week, attorneys for the state contended the platforms should be considered like telephone companies and said the First Amendment does not give them “constitutional license to selectively silence the speech of those they may host.”

The law would prevent large platforms from banning political candidates from their sites and require companies to publish and apply consistent standards on issues such as banning users or blocking their content.

“In hosting billions of speakers and petabytes of content, the platforms are engaged in business activity — conduct — that may be regulated in the public interest,” the state’s brief said. “The First Amendment does not afford those who host third-party speech a right to silence the hosted speakers or to treat them arbitrarily. The telephone company, internet service provider, and delivery company can all be prevented from squelching or discriminating against the speech they carry. And so can the platforms.” read more

Federal estate taxes apply equally to all no matter where in the United States they live. State estate taxes and inheritance taxes vary significantly among states.

Estate taxes are paid by the estate based on its size at the time of the estate owner’s death. Both federal and state estate taxes have exemptions. Taxes, if any, are based on the size of the estate above the exemption amounts. There is no state estate tax or inheritance tax if assets are inherited by a surviving spouse who is a U.S. citizen.

Inheritance taxes are paid by individuals rather than the estate. Inheritance taxes, too, have exemptions, and taxes are owed only on amounts that exceed the exemption. Inheritance taxes are based on the relationship between the deceased individual and the individual who inherited funds. Each state establishes its own regulations in this regard. Unmarried parties generally pay the highest inheritance taxes.

Federal estate taxes range from 18% to 40% for estates above $12.92 million. Seventeen states and the District of Columbia have either estate or inheritance taxes. Maryland is the only state that has both estate and inheritance taxes. read more

Orange County commissioners are poised to cleave $15 million and possibly more from Visit Orlando’s annual budget Tuesday when they consider rewriting the contract of the tourist-tax-funded, destination marketing agency.

The elected board — excluding Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, who did not attend — held an unusual discussion Jan. 16 and knocked around possible changes to the county funding agreement with Visit Orlando.

Commissioners reached consensus on a few points at the two-hour session, including chopping the agency’s share of overall tourist-tax revenue by 5 percentage points, to 25%. They are expected to vote for real at their regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday.

Visit Orlando got more than $100 million in 2023 from a 30% portion of the tax proceeds, also known as the tourist development tax or TDT.

If future TDT collections stay on pace with those of the last 23 months, the cut in the agency’s allotment would mean about $18 million less for Visit Orlando’s marketing and promotions operation over the next 12 months. read more