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CONSTITUTIONALITY
OF CITRUS BOX TAX HEADS FOR FLORIDA SUPREME COURT
LAKELAND, FL — January 6, 2005 — The Florida Department
of Citrus (FDOC) lost another round in its legal battle over the constitutionality
of the department’s tax on Florida citrus used for the FDOC
advertising program. The Second District Court of Appeal in Lakeland
today denied
the FDOC petition for a rehearing of a lower court ruling striking
down the tax. The FDOC said it would appeal the decision to the
Florida Supreme Court.
“This is the third major ruling against the Department of Citrus in
this case,” said Michael McMahon, Orlando attorney with the
firm of Akerman Senterfitt representing eight Florida growers who
are seeking
to obtain a refund of money they have paid in box taxes. “ We
are happy to meet the FDOC before the Supreme Court and are confident
that the court will order the case back to the Circuit Court where
we will finally get a determination on the refunds owed the growers.”
“This will finally bring an end to the continuing battle the FDOC is
waging against the clock, delaying the growers their day in court
to obtain refunds from the illegal tax,” McMahon said. He estimated
the potential refund to the eight growers in the case at more than
$20 million dollars.
Earlier, the Second District Court of Appeal upheld the Circuit
Court decision saying in effect that the tax of up to 20 cents
per box
violated the growers’ First Amendment rights and amounted
to unconstitutional compelled speech. This ruling follows several
federal
court rulings,
which held similar generic ad tax programs unconstitutional.
Eight major growers filed the lawsuit about two years ago, claiming
that the tax, imposed on each box of citrus produced, is used to
fund multimillion dollar generic advertising campaigns they disapprove
of
and say “does more to help sell Brazilian oranges than Florida
orange juice.”
Two-thirds of the FDOC’s $65 million budget comes from the
box tax and 80 per cent of their budget is dedicated to advertising.
The growers who have filed the suit include: Graves Brothers Co., Evans
Properties Inc., Southern Gardens Groves Corp., the Latt Maxcy Corp.,
Fellsmere Joint Venture, Oak Hammock Groves, Ltd., Silver Strand III
Partnership and Barron Collier Partnership.
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