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A legal showdown is about to begin over whether six counties where voters have approved slot machines can actually install them. The Attorney general says no, but courts and the legislature may have a different opinion.

The legal showdown will come after voters in conservative Lee County in Southwest Florida voted overwhelmingly for Mitt Romney.But these voters cast ballots even more solidly for slot machines, approving them by almost a two to one margin. They weren’t alone.

On election day, voters in Brevard and Palm Beach counties also said yes to slots. That brings the total to six counties that have said yes to slots since January. Prior to the first vote last January, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi told the Department that supervises slots that it didn’t matter how people voted, they could not issue a license.

Attorney Marc Dunbar, who has an interest in a barrel racing track in Gadsden County, which approved slots in January, disagrees. “There are a couple of cases that will likely be filed in the next six to eight weeks that will push the issue a little bit now that the voters have overwhelmingly said they would like to have slot machines at their pari-mutual facilities,” says Dunbar.

As slots backers get ready to go to court, state lawmakers are about to begin a two year review of every gambling regulation in the state. The state does already has slots, indian casino’s, boats to nowhere, and internet cafe’s. Senate President Don Gaetz set up the committee looking at gambling because each form is regulated differently. “We have completely unregulated aspects of gaming like internet cafes then we have over regulated aspects of gaming like some of our dog tracks and horse tracks” says Gaetz.

Any changes put the deal with the Seminole Tribe in jeopardy, The deal the state cut with the Seminole Tribe expires in two years, and another full court press for destination casinos is expected over the next two years.

State officials say state law forbids them from talking about Sanford Shooter George Zimmerman’s concealed weapons permit. Information about concealed weapons was taken out of the public domain in 2006, so we don’t know who has a concealed weapon, but as Mike Vasilinda tells us, we do know a lot of people are carrying weapons in Florida.

One in every 20 Floridians has a valid concealed weapons permit. Sanford shooter George Zimmerman still has his. State law is very specific about when the permits can be suspended or revoked.

“If you’re charged with a felony crime, and the department is notified, we can certainly move to have the license suspended,” Sterling Ivey with the Florida Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Services. “Once a conviction takes place, we can revoke that individual’s license.”

This past year, state lawmakers lowered the cost of a concealed permit by fifteen dollars. They now cost 70 dollars. Applicants must also pass a gun safety course. The Brady Project to prevent gun violence says concealed carry permits are too easy to get in Florida.

“You know, this man George Zimmerman, is a living example of that,” Brady Project President Dan Gross said. “This is a guy who had an arrest record, this is a guy who had a violent past. This is a guy who in numerous other states would never be offered a permit to carry a loaded, hidden, handgun.”

The NRA declined to appear on camera for this story. But they argue that statistics show only law abiding citizens get and keep a permit. State figures show 98 percent of all applicants receive a carry permit.

Since 1987, more than 2 million concealed weapons permits have been issued in Florida, and of those permits just three of every thousand have been revoked.

The Brady project counters that just one concealed permit in the wrong hands is an injustice.

In addition to lowering the license fee, lawmakers also reduced the renewal fee by ten dollars. Concealed weapons permits now cost about eight and a half dollars a year.

If lawmakers don’t act by Friday, Florida’s unemployment tax will more than double. The tax is going from 71 dollars an employee to more than 170. As Whitney Ray tells us, efforts are underway to reduce the increase, but lawmakers will have to act fast or they’ll run out of time.

Good food and great services are the ingredients for success for Brian Rowe and his BBQ business. Piggy’s BBQ employees 35 workers. The restaurant has added catering and a food truck, but the rising price of food and fuel presents a huge challenge.

“It hurts our bottom-line. I’m not going to do a price increase to our customers,” said Rowe.

It could get worse. Piggy’s is about to be hit with a 35-hundred dollar increase in state unemployment taxes. The tax is skyrocketing from 71 dollars to more than 170 per employee.

“It’s kind of a double whammy there. When you have all these increases that are affecting us, ultimately you will have to increase the prices or drop your staff and have fewer staff,” said Rowe.

And if lawmakers don’t act by Friday there will be an 817 million dollar increase to all business owners statewide. Legislation to cut the increase in half is being heard late in session. State Senator Ellyn Bogdanoff says the bill will make it across the finish line.

“I don not anticipate Sine Dieing before this thing passes. This is a priority of the governor and we have been working diligently to get it through,” said Bogdanoff.

The increase is needed to pay back the federal government. In 2009, the state ran out of cash to pay unemployment claims. Florida borrowed 2.6 billion dollars from Uncle Sam to keep the money flowing and now the bill has come due with interest.

Critics of the bill say delaying the increase will only prolong payment to the federal government, and since they are charging interest, in the long run businesses will end up paying more.

Florida businesses could see several tax breaks from state lawmakers this year. Among them, a property tax on business items such as desks, chairs, or computers. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, the current taxing system could be keeping some business owners from expanding.

On any given night, as many as fifty college students fill these cubicles, conducting polls or urging voters to get out and vote. The computers are old, but they work. Owner Linda Cherry says buying new computers would force her to pay a tangible personal property tax.

She told a Senate committee the tax was keeping her and others from expanding.

�We are wanting to move into more equipment, but there�s a consideration of the cost of it, the sales tax we pay on it, and the tangible tax that we pay year after year after year until it�s depreciated,� Cherry said.

Every business, big and small, in Florida must pay a yearly tax on their equipment.

The yearly tax bill on this computer: just about 34 dollars.

The tax makes up just over seven percent of all property taxes collected in Florida. The first 25 thousand in valuation is exempt. Lawmakers want to double that to 50 thousand…but also want the authority to do away with the tax all together.

�You�re taxed on your desk, your chair, your computer, your copy machine,� Sen. Nancy Detert (R-Venice) said. �And you�re not taxed once, you�re taxed every single year.�

Voters do have to approve any changes. Cities, counties and schools may all be potential opponents to the change, especially if there is no replacement source of cash.

If the measure passes both the House and Senate, it will appear on the November ballot. Making it into the constitution requires a sixty percent approval level from voters.

In addition to picking a Presidential candidate next Tuesday, voters in two rural counties will vote on whether to allow slot machines at dog and horse racing tracks. Gadsden is a liberal Democratic County, While Washington is a conservative Republican stronghold. The outcome Tuesday could impact the casino debate at the state legislature.

Chattahoochee Florida is reeling.�When 300 jobs were lost at the state mental institution last year, The IGA across the street closed. Empty buildings litter downtown. Another 77 jobs are slated to leave when the state closes this prison work camp.

On Tuesday, voters will decide whether to legalize slot machines at a newly opened barrel racing track. The promise; 15 hundred new jobs.

Voter Laura Smith is pragmatic. “If this going to bring jobs to Gadsden County I’m not against it.”

In this heavily Democratic county, interest is running high. So far more than 1300 people in this small county have voted early and another 800 have returned absentee ballots.

Realtor Dick D’Alemberte early voted on Wednesday. He voted yes. We asked why. “For the economy.� We are really hurting for Gadsden County,” says D’Alemberte.

In the last two weeks, churches here have mounted a church by church campaign against slots. Howard Adams works for all the Baptist churches in the county and says “A lot of our signs says don’t gamble with our children’s future and we feel that very strongly.”

An estimated seven to eight thousand voters are expected to vote.

And how the vote goes here and in nearby Washington County could help determine how lawmakers vote on expanded gambling.

Should the slot machine referendums pass in either Washington or Gadsden County, a legal challenge is a certainty, because the Attorney General has issued an opinion which says the state has no authority to issue slot machine permits without new legislative authority.

Six bills have been filed to try to get online retailers to collect state sales tax.

Bills have been filed in the past but never passed. This year there�s more support. The Florida Retail Federation is backing the efforts. Rick McAllister, the Federation�s President, says not collecting sales taxes gives online companies a price advantage, plus it makes criminals of online shoppers who still owe the tax and may not know it.

�They are really doing a huge disservice to the Florida customer by not collecting that tax for them. It�s owed and it�s due. For them not to collect it again is a real disservice,� said McAllister.

The Federation says passing a bill to require online stores to collect the tax could bring in 450 million dollars in revenue this year.

The Director of the new Department of Economic Opportunity was a no show today, to answer questions from House Democrats. The legislators want to know why the millions of dollars in tax incentives the state gives businesses aren�t creating as many jobs as expected. Governor Rick Scott is also looking for answers to those questions. As Whitney Ray tells us, Scott is asking the businesses that didn�t deliver to write the state a refund check.

The state has doled out 740 million dollars in tax incentives and cold hard cash to businesses claiming they can create jobs. Over the past 15 years the money has resulted in 86-thousand jobs; or about a third of what the companies promised.

Now Governor Rick Scott wants a refund.

The state is trying to renegotiate with six of the businesses that aren’t living up to their end of the deal, but getting the details is tough because state law keeps those contract secret for two years.

State Senator Nancy Detert has filed a bill to make the deals more transparent.

“Once we sign a contract if it involves any tax incentives or taxpayer dollars, once that contract is signed all that information should be open to the public,� said Detert.

Detert chaired a committee Tuesday trying to find out if the millions of state and federal tax dollars being spent on the 24 regional workforce boards are creating any jobs.

“How many jobs have the workforce boards created?” ask state senator Bill Montford.

The head of the Workforce Florida couldn’t answer the question but promised to get the information to the committee. Workforce Florida takes state and federal money to offer computers and job training to job seekers, but unemployment remains high.

The committee also listened to a presentation from the online job searching company Monster.com about how its technology could help Workforce Florida better match job seekers with employers. Monster is also offering to load the state�s database with the Florida resume�s it�s accumulated.

A group of heavy hitters in Florida politics want online stores to collect state sales tax. The Florida Chamber of Commerce, The Florida Retail Federation and Florida TaxWatch say collecting the tax could help lawmakers balance the budget and give small businesses a better chance of competing against online retailers. As Whitney Ray tells us, a bill to force online stores to collect taxes has been filed.

Graham Latsa is always looking for a good deal.

�I�m a cheapskate and because of that I want to get the lowest price,� said Latsa.

He found this custom bike seat and lift bar on Amazon.com for 45 dollars. He saved $2.70 on state sales tax alone� because Amazon doesn�t charge Florida sales tax.

�Part of me says they should but the other part of me says I�m cheap and I don�t want to pay that sales tax,� said Latsa.

Amazon is one of thousands of online stores that doesn�t collect state sales tax, because they don�t have a physical location in Florida. But what most shoppers who use these online stores don�t know is, they still owe the tax.

Here is the form online shoppers are supposed to fill out. It can be found on the Florida Department of Revenues website, but if major business groups get their way it won�t be necessary.

A coalition of business groups, including the Florida Chamber of Commerce and the retail federation is pressuring lawmakers to force online companies to start collecting. They say without charging sales tax, online shops have a price advantage.

�Government should not be picking winners and losers and this is a case that because of non-action they are picking winners against good state citizens,� said Rick McAllister, CEO of the Florida Retail Federation.

Besides leveling the playing field, collecting the tax could bring in between 50 million and two billion dollars a year in sales tax revenue. Legislative leaders haven�t been sold on the idea yet and some are dead set against forcing online companies to pay. But if the bill did pass, lawmakers say they would use the money to offset other business taxes.

A heavy hitter in Florida politics, the Chamber of Commerce is throwing its weight behind a plan to collect internet sales taxes. The Florida Chamber unveiled its legislative priorities today. Online companies without locations in the state currently aren�t collecting state sales taxes. The Chamber wants that to change, but Senate President Mike Haridopolos says it�s not likely to happen this session.

�If it somehow passed both chambers which I consider the likelihood zero, the governor would surly veto it as well, said Haridopolos.

Forcing online shops to collect sales taxes could bring in as much as two billion dollars annually.

Floridians are driving less and buying more fuel efficient vehicles� which may sound great to environmentalists, but its� creating a problem for the Florida Department of Transportation. As Whitney Ray tells us, the trend is depriving the state of millions of gas taxes used to build and repair roads, so to make up the difference more tolls may be in Florida�s future.

Jaycee Oliver used to fill up twice a month� that�s before he bought this new Ford Focus� which gets 30 miles per gallon.

�I fill up once a month,� said Jaycee.

Some students are getting even better gas mileage, trading in their cars for scooters.

�Four dollars a tank and it gets me by for two weeks,� said Robert Chedester.

�I don�t really look at gas prices I just pull up and get the 93 octane,� said Brandon Villaverde.

While this is good news for the environment, it�s creating problems for the state which relies on the gas tax to build and repair roads.

Drivers in Florida pay about 50 cents in tax on every gallon of gas. Next year the amount collected is expected to drop by 93 million dollars. By 2020 the state will have lost a total of 5.1 billion dollars because of fuel efficient vehicles.

Department of Transportation Secretary Ananth Prasad is asking lawmakers to approve tolls for all new state roads.

�Not all of these projects will be toll feasible per se but anything we can do there will help to maintain our great infrastructure that we have currently,� said Prasad.

But transportation experts say tolls alone can�t fill the pothole left by more fuel efficient vehicles. Pay by the mile plans are being explored nationwide.

One plan to make up for the declining gas tax collections would have involved a gps system in every car to track miles. The driver would then pay a tax on every mile driven when the gps data was uploaded at the gas pump. The idea was quickly shot down, because drivers its big brother overtones.