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Tax cuts are coming if the Florida House gets their way, but as Matt Galka tells us – the amount that made it out of a House tax committee Tuesday falls far short from the numbers being thrown around earlier this year.

A 2015 budget surplus gave way to the promise of cutting taxes, but healthcare money uncertainty put things in jeopardy. The Florida House is back with a tax cut package significantly less than they wanted at the beginning of the year.

The package promises to save Floridians $436 million dollars over the next two years.  The hope at the beginning of 2015 was that nearly $700 million dollars would be slashed.

A portion of the package that took the biggest hit was cell phone tax savings. The Governor was pushing for an average savings of $43 dollars per year, the package only saves people about $10 bucks.

“I’ve got to fish with the lures that work, we passed a huge CST cut during regular session, and we were unable to get the Senate to take up the reduction in the CST,” said committee chair Rep. Matt Gaetz/(R-Shalimar).

Democrat Jose Rodriguez tried to tack on an amendment that taxed outside businesses operating in Florida and put that money towards healthcare.

“Closing some corporate tax loopholes generates some revenue and would relieve that burden on the local level,” said Rep. Rodriguez (D-Miami).

Republicans voted it down.

The Florida Chamber is happy with the overall proposal even though they were hoping for more cuts.

“Would the Florida chamber like to see a 690 million dollar tax cut package? Absolutely. But the package we saw pass out of House committee today is probably pretty close to what we’ll see at the end,” said David Hart, the Chamber’s Executive Vice President.

Other portions of the package include a three day back to school sales tax holiday moved up closer to the school year – and three separate holidays to help college kids buy textbooks tax free.

The package is part of the House’s version of a healthcare compromise. House leadership said they’re willing to put hundreds of millions of dollars of state money that would have gone toward tax cuts instead towards helping hospitals – if the Senate droops its quest for Medicaid expansion.