By WILLIAM M. HARTNETT
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

It has been ridiculed from its inception, and the improbable industry it was born to nurture never caught on, yet Florida’s sales-tax exemption for ostrich feed endures.

Created in 1992 - when it was not uncommon to sincerely believe that the meat of large, flightless birds would find a place on America’s dinner plate - the tax break was the same as that enjoyed by cattle or chicken farmers.

Then-Gov. Lawton Chiles called ostrich ranching “an emerging new industry.”

The intervening years have not been kind to the ostrich industry. But the tax exemption has survived not just ceaseless mocking by editorial writers and politicians, but repeated legislative attempts to repeal it.

Ostrich exemption opponents are hopeful that this is finally their year. State Sen. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, as he did the past two years, has filed a bill that would eliminate Florida’s statutorily enshrined right to tax-free ostrich nourishment.

“I’m a pretty conservative legislator, and I don’t support new taxes,” Posey said. “But the exemption is moot from an economic-development standpoint.”

The measure cruised to approval in the Senate by a 38-0 vote in 2003 and a 39-1 count in 2004.

So how is it that Florida residents, if so inclined, can still head down to the feed store today and pick up a bag of tax-free ostrich food?

The measure stalled in the House, a casualty of the contentious relationship between leaders of the House and Senate, Posey said.

The ostrich bill is unlikely to generate much controversy because there isn’t really an ostrich lobby to fight back.

“The last I checked, which was about a year ago, there were no ostrich farms in Florida,” said Terence McElroy, spokesman for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

Henry Wilson, a retired University of Florida professor of poultry science, called the debate over the exemption “a tempest in a teapot” considering that the business “really just failed here.”

A 2002 census listed just more than 600 ostriches on 44 farms in Florida, but calls to agricultural extension agents, state wildlife officials and feed stores in Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie and Okeechobee counties failed to yield a single local ostrich rancher.

And Posey has yet to hear from a Florida ostrich owner.

“I heard from somebody in another state,” Posey said. “I think Alabama. They sent me a letter, told me how sorry I was.”

With new House Speaker Allan Bense and Senate President Tom Lee promising better relations between their chambers, Posey’s bill appears to have a good chance in the House.

But the position of Gov. Jeb Bush remains unclear.

“He has yet to weigh in on this tremendously heavy subject,” Posey joked.

Perhaps of more interest to Floridians: What does ostrich meat taste like?

“It tastes like prime rib,” Posey reports.

Wilson says ostrich is a red meat, “a good bit like lean beef.”

“I think it’s a little strong,” he said. “I like it and it’s good, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to get it.”

Which of the state’s hundreds of remaining exemptions would be a suitable successor for the title of silliest if Posey’s bill succeeds?

Several seem to have the winning combination of obscurity, monetary insignificance and almost inexplicable narrowness.

A racing dog can be sold without sales tax, for example, but only if its owner also is its breeder.

Then there’s the skybox exemption, another item on Posey’s hit list. It allows high-priced luxury boxes in venues such as college football stadiums to be leased tax-free.

The exemption, of course, does not apply to the cheap seats.

“The talk of any real review of exemptions is nothing more than talk if you can’t get these two sorry ones repealed,” Posey said of the ostrich-feed and skybox tax breaks.

Copyright 2005 The Palm Beach Newspapers, Inc.
Palm Beach Post (Florida)
January 11, 2005 Tuesday
FINAL EDITION
SECTION: LOCAL; Pg. 5B
LENGTH: 623 words